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THE 


HOME-SCENES 


OF THE 


NEW TESTAMENT; 

' 0 

0E - 

CHRIST IN THE FAMILY. 


Let them first learn to show piety at home. — Paul. 

And truly bless’d are they 
Who hear his word and keep it well; 

The living homes where Christ shall tfcvell, 

And never pass away.— Keble. 


REV. THEOPHILUS STORK, D.D., 


AUTHOR OF “THE C TAMEST,” ETC. ETC 



LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 

1 8 51 . 








Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, 

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 

District of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN. PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN & SON. 













3 




X 

% 

TO ALL 


WHO HAVE A HOME ON EARTH TO LOVE, 


HOPE FOR ONE IN HEAVEN, 


THESE 


HOME-SCENES 

) ' "• 

ARE 


SUfectfonatdj) Enscrflje'D a lift JDcftfcatcft 

BY THE 


AUTHOR. 


(iii) 



PREFACE. 


/vwwwv\ 

In presenting this volume to the public, we have no apology 
to offer, unless it be for the imperfect manner in which we 
have actualized the true ideal of the Christian Home. The 
idea of the Family which we have endeavored to develop and 
illustrate in these consecutive Home-scenes of the New Testa¬ 
ment, we regard as essentially connected with all social 
progress and Christian civilization. 

The Family as a Divine Ordinance, is the first and most 
influential school of man. Here must ever abide the deepest 
springs of Social Life. No extraneous education, whether in 
the week-day or Sabbath school, can be substituted for Home 
culture and training. The greatest privileges and most sacred 
responsibilities find their basis here; and we are taught first, 
“to show piety at Home.” 

The Family, it is said, is the first element of society. The 
Home is an institution, “forecast in the very peculiarities of 
our nature.” It is the foundation of all society. It em¬ 
bosoms the germ and ideal of the state. It is the nursery of 
the Church. 

In our age of manifold voluntary associations, and the 
multiplied agencies for reform and social progress, there is, we 
think, an obvious tendency to neglect this radical school of 
1 * ( v ) 


VI 


PREFACE. 


childhood, this primordial institution for the advancement of 
our race in all social virtues and Christian perfection. 

What we need more than any thing else, is home-religion — 
parental authority religiously directed — home - training and 
discipline—home-happiness and purity. Upon the sanctity of 
the domestic relations, the intensity of its sympathies, the 
inviolability of its rights, the sacredness of its responsibilities— 
upon these, more than upon any other instrumental agencies, 
must depend the moral purity and elevation of society, the 
enlargement of the Christian Church, and the consequent 
education of our race for glory and immortality. Truly and 
beautifully has the Christian poet sung : — 

“Domestic Happiness, thou only bliss 
Of Paradise that hast survived the fall! 
****** 

Thou art the nurse of virtue — in thine arms 
She dwells, appearing, as in truth she is, 

Heaven-born, and destined to the skies again.” —Cowper. 

We are conscious, deeply conscious of the inadequacy of 
these discussions to the importance of the subject. But we 
fondly hope that this earnest plea for home-affections and 
piety — these suggestions upon topics of such intense personal 
and general interest — these “Home-scenes” — may with the 
Divine blessing be conducive to the great end of the Gospel, 
the renewal of the soul and the redemption of the home. 


Philadelphia, December , 1856. 


CONTENTS 




wvwvwww 


CHAPTER I. 

Inmt. 

_j ~~ ♦«. '• ' 

"V 

MEMORY OF OUR CHILDHOOD. 

THE TRUE IDEAL OF HOME. 

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 

THE LAW OF THE HOUSE. 

ORGANIC UNITY OF THE FAMILY. 

HOME, THE NORMAL SCHOOL OF CHILDHOOD 

CHURCH OF CHILDHOOD.*. 

CHRISTIAN HOMES. 

FACTS. . 

THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 


PACE 

14 

15 
It 


10 

22 


2t 

36 

43 

44 
4t 


(vii) 












PAGE 


€I;t 313nUi .fnrailij. 


SOMETHING PECULIAR AND DISTINCTIVE IN THIS HOME- 

SCENE. 

TWO PICTURES... 

BETHLEHEM AND THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

CHRISTIANITY THE GUARDIAN OF CHILDHOOD. 

FRIENDLESS AND HOMELESS CHILDREN.. 

MARY ; OR, THE TRUE IDEAL OF A CHRISTIAN MOTHER. 

THE MOTHER AND THE CHILD.. 

THE MATERNAL RELATION... 

THE CHILD. 

HOME-SCENE... . 

APPEAL TO MOTHERS. . 

OUR COUNTRY. 

THE MOTHER’S REWARD. 

CHATEAUBRIAND AND IIIS MOTHER..,. 

DEATH-SCENE. 


56 

57 

57 

58 
61 
71 
80 
81 
86 
88 
91 
91 
93 
93 
97 

















CONTENTS 


IX 


CHAPTER III. 

iCnmt; nr, ijje Skiiwl ianr. 

PAGE 

EARTH’S EIRST BRIDAL. 100 

MARRIAGE IN CANA. 110 

STEPS TO THE MARRIAGE-ALTAR. 113 

YOUTHFUL LOVE AND COURTSHIP. 116 

SUGGESTIONS. 119 

THE BRIDAL CEREMONIAL. 121 

THE NEW HOME. 129 

WEDDED LOYE. 132 

LAST GLANCE AT THE CANA FESTIVAL. 139 

THE MORAL END OF MARRIAGE. 140 

CHAPTER IV. 

(Cnrnrliua; nr, tljr /nmiltj Site. 

RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF CORNELIUS. 144 

UNION OF DEVOTION AND MORALITY. 146 














X 


CONTENTS 


THE DUTY OP FAMILY WORSHIP. 

SEASONS AND CONSTITUENT PARTS OP FAMILY WORSHIP 

THE SEASONS OF DOMESTIC WORSHIP. 

MORNING WORSHIP. 

EVENING WORSHIP. 

THE BLESSINGS OF FAMILY WORSHIP. 

THE INFIDEL CONVERTED . 

A FAMILY CONVERTED. 

FAMILY PRAYER ESTABLISHED BY A CHILD. 

THE DISCOURAGED FATHER. 


PAGE 

148 

156 

159 

160 
162 
164 
169 
110 
m 
112 


CHAPTER V. 

§Gljtun[. 


A RURAL HOME-SCENE .... 181 

JESUS IN THE FAMILY. 184 

I. 


UNITY AND LOVE. 


THE FRATERNAL RELATION. 185 

BEAUTIFUL ADAPTATIONS. 181 
















CONTENTS 


XI 


PAGE 

BROTHERS AND SISTERS... 189 

MUTUAL DEVELOPMENT. 194 

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 196 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 198 

II. 

THE SPHERE OF WOMAN. 

MODERN IDEAS OF WOMAN’S POSITION. 199 

woman’s rights... 202 

S' - - ' 

TILE CHRISTIAN ASPECT OF WOMAN’S SPHERE. 206 

HOME. 209 

THE EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS... 216 

THE MARYS ROUND THE CROSS. 222 

V “ • , U » •- • ',*■'/ 

III. 

FAMILY CARES. 

DOMESTIC TRIALS. 224 

HEAVENLY PEACE. 225 

MARTHA, OR HOME CARES. 229 

MARY, OR SPIRITUAL REPOSE. 236 

BEAUTIFUL ATTITUDE OF MARY. 239 

> i 

THE ONE THING NEEDFUL. 243 


















Xll 


CONTENTS 


IV. 

■* 

DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. 

THE SHADED HOME. 

SICKNESS. 

THE VIGILS OF LOVE. 

THE MESSAGE TO JESUS. 

THE DEATH OF LAZARUS. 

■ 

BENEFITS OF AFFLICTION. 

DEATH IN THE FAMILY..... 

LIGHT IN THE HOME OF BETHANY. 

INTERVIEW BETWEEN JESUS AND THE SISTERS... 
THE RESURRECTION SCENE. 


PAGE! 

244 

245 

248 

249 

250 
252 
25? 

9 

260 

262 

271 


CHAPTER VI. 

tinmans ; mytlj* Stain* nf (Dili &g*. 


THE SABBATH AFTERNOON WALK. 282 

NATURAL EVENING . 284 

THE EVENING OF LIFE. 286 

IRRELIGIOUS OLD AGE. 288 

\ ‘ . • * 

THE AGED CHRISTIAN’S VESPER HYMN... 294 


THE HEAVENLY HOME 


295 


















HOME-SCENES 


OP THE 

NEW TESTAMENT. 


Chapter /irat. 

HOME. 

“ Home! 

There's magic in that little word; 

It is a mystic circle which surrounds 
Comforts and virtues, never known 
Beyond the hallowed limit.” 

There is no word in our language so musical to the 
ear, so redolent of sweet memories to the heart, as the 
word Home. It lingers in the soul like some sweet song 
of our childhood, and its pictured scenes and mother 
memories, soft and dim with years, mellowed and graced, 
like other pictures, by the slow and tasteful hand of time, 
ever rise to the heart — 

“Apparelled in celestial light, 

The glory and the freshness of a dream.” 

It is the morning star of life’s early dawn, and the 
evening star of life’s setting sun. Whatever may be the 
2 ( 13 ) 


14 


HOME. 


psychological explanation, it is a fact, that our early home 
never seems so fresh and beautiful as in old age — and 
every true life repeats in some way the prophet’s words— 
“ He shall return to the days of his youth.” Some one 
in adverting to this peculiarity in our earliest impressions 
of home, attributes it not merely to the susceptibility of 
childhood, but to constant retrospection, which is per¬ 
petually deepening the image and transcript of those early 
years. Whatever may be the explanation, the fact is un¬ 
questionable that if blessed with a genial and happy 
home in childhood, it becomes a living memory, influential 
upon all our after years. Even Goethe, with all his 
artistic coolness, in the inscription to Faust, reverts to his 
early days in sentiments the most beautiful and touching: 

“Once more, sweet visions, are ye floating hither — 

Forms, who of old oft gladdened my dim sight? 

* * * * * * 

How with the joy of youth my bosom springs, 

Breathing the magic air shook from your dewy wings! 

* * * * * * 

What I possess now seems no longer real, 

But in the past I live, in my soul’s first ideal.” 

It is as true of the humblest peasant, as of this 
“ majestic demigod” of the German Parnassus. With us 
all, life as it travels on, recurs ever to its beginning, for 
it has received its appointed orbit from the same hand 
that formed and guides the spheres. 

If we carry with us through life the- memory and in¬ 
fluence of our first home — how important the moral tone 


HOME. 


15 


and character of this ever-living memory. How important 
that the home of childhood should he one of moral 
beauty and gentle affections—that it may be the fountain 
light of all succeeding days — and in the hallowed retro¬ 
spection breathe a perpetual benediction! 

We are conscious that much that is written so rhapsodi- 
cally about home and the love of home, is mere cant, and 
a commonplace flourish of words, or mere poetical pic¬ 
tures of sentiment and fancy. Such representations are 
often as false to the true ideal of a Christian home as a 
cottage seen in the distance through green foliage and 
flowers, may be deceptive to the eye, revealing an exterior 
beautiful and attractive, whilst all within is discord and 
selfishness, as infelicitous as it is repulsive. 

That there exists a great disparity between the ideal 
and the real home, no one can question, and it is a con¬ 
sciousness of this fact that prompts the present efort to 
assist in actualizing to a greater extent the true ideal of 
the Christian home. 

In presenting what we conceive to be the true ideal of 
Home, we shall not dwell upon what may be regarded as 
mere external adornments and incidental associations. 
These are not to be overlooked, as they impart a certain 
grace and beauty to the home-life, and contribute to the 
general refinement of sentiment and manners in the social 
relations, but they do not belong essentially to the normal 
idea of home which it is our purpose to develope and 
illustrate. Whatever allusions, therefore, may be made 


16 


HOME. 


to these external graces and poetical aspects of home, 
will be merely incidental to the main discussion. 

In this age of multiform institutions for the education 
of the young and the moral improvement of society, there 
is peculiar danger of neglecting the domestic instru¬ 
mentality for the religious development of our race. 
There is a growing tendency to depreciate the home- 
institution as a divine ordinance and economy for the cul¬ 
ture of youth and the spiritual elevation of society. But 
whatever facilities in the age may tempt parents to throw 
off their responsibility, and practically to ignore or dis¬ 
parage the Home-institution as the true normal school of 
the race, must eventually he productive of evil. Home- 
education is a law of nature — a duty devolved on the 
parents by God, and is not transferable by man. What¬ 
ever tends to invade this divine constitution, must, sooner 
or later, bring the retributive reaction. 

Conscious of such a tendency in our day, we make this 
special effort, feeble as it is, to direct anew the attention 
of Christians to the Home-institution, as a selected in¬ 
strumentality for the upbuilding of that spiritual temple 
of the Lord, from which the symbol of his presence and 
glory is never more to depart. 

Upon a subject of such magnitude, and of such vast 
relations, we can do but little more than offer suggestions 
—suggestions meant to turn your serious thoughts to this 
subject of 


II OME. 


17 


TIIE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 

1. The family is an ordinance of God. It existed as a 
conception, or an ideal, in the Divine Mind, prior to the 
existence of man. “ The State existed before the indivi¬ 
dual, says Aristotle. “And, in the same sense, the family 
may be said to have existed before the individual. That 
is to say, the family is not a constitution set up by man, 
as the result of mature reflection. The perception of its 
advantages did not lead to its existence; its existence was 
at first necessary, in order to exhibit its advantages.” It 
is an institution preconceived by the Divine Mind, and for 
which preparation was made in the creation of man, in 
the natural and moral instincts and social affinities, which 
would prompt and adapt him to the domestic economy. 

This divine ideal was realized in Eden. Eve, the first 
woman, was the first wife. The first human pair were 
united in marriage bonds. Earth’s first bridal was cele¬ 
brated in the primeval Paradise by God himself. As 
marriage is the basis of the family life, we have in this 
ordination the divine appointment of the domestic institu¬ 
tion. No other institution can show such an antiquity. 
“ The records of it are the first syllables of written 
history, and the faintest stammerings of tradition.” The 
family is a divine ordinance. And how mnnifestly 
appears the divine hand in the preservation of the Home- 
institution ! How it outlives all the convulsions of king¬ 
doms, and the destruction of empire ! “ How tenaciously 

2 * 


* 


18 


HOME. 


every where it clings in the web of human events; and 
under all conditions justifies its right to be ! You might 
as soon find by chemical analysis, and pluck out with 
your finger the living principle of a growing cedar, as 
eradicate from society the indestructible tendency it has 
to throw itself out into families.” 

The grand moral end of the family, according to the in¬ 
spired prophet, is, that “He might seek a godly seed.” 
How does this beneficent and world-wide intention, en- 
stamped upon this primeval institution, demonstrate the 
home to be God’s appointment! Forecast in the peculi¬ 
arities of our very nature, Christianity “recognizes the 
family, that seminary of the state and church, as a divine 
institution, but raises it to a higher level than it ever 
occupied before.”* 

2. The next fact worthy of notice is, that the family 
constitution is an organic whole; having, like the indivi¬ 
dual, ends of its own to answer, and a similar ultimate re¬ 
lation to the great end — the former harmonizing with the 
latter. And as, in the Divine government, of which the 
family constitution is a part, “ the glory of God is coin¬ 
cident with the well-being of the creature, so in the 
family, the honor of the parent and the welfare of the 
child are coincident, so that the highest interest of the 
child, the highest honor of the parent, and the highest 
glory of God, are coincident. ”f 

* Dr. SchafFs History of the Apostolic Church. 

f Patriarchy, by Dr. Harris. 


* 


HOME. 


19 


It obviously follows that the family is not a system of 
vague and undefined relations—and the home is something 
more than the shelter of gregarious instincts; it is a con¬ 
stitution pervaded by definite laws. Christianity has re¬ 
cognized these laws of the household, and filled the home 
with sacred duties and immortal affections, and given to 
its relationship an eternal sanction. It has placed first, 
as the school and the life of all other piety, the piety of 
Home. 

That one word Economy , not in its secondary and popu¬ 
lar sense, but in its original import from its Greek deriva¬ 
tion, condenses the whole religious obligation and respon¬ 
sibility of the home-life. “We may preach the whole 
Gospel of Christ to the household, through the sugges¬ 
tions of that simple word Economy. For it signifies, 
literally, the Law of the House; the ordering of man’s 
whole domestic existence; the inauguration of the Divine 
Will over his dwelling. To the soul surrounded by its 
natural human relationships, the command out of the 
mouth of God is, ‘Set thy house in order:’ obey this 
spiritual economy.”* 

THE LAW OF THE HOUSE. 

Every family has its law of domestic life — its ruling 
principle or passion. 

Such is the organic relation of the members of the 
household, that there is unity of life and spirit, inducing 


* Huntington's Sermons. 


20 


HOME. 


by vital contact and reaction oneness of feeling and 
character, involving the entire home-circle in a common 
life and practical working. Dr. Bushnell illustrates this 
“ organic unity of the family,” by that vivid picture of 
an idolatrous household, in Jeremiah vii. 18 — a The 
children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, the 
women knead dough, to make cakes to the queen of 
heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, 
that they may provoke me to anger.” 

This is a pagan home-scene, and the idol-worship is the 
common act of the house. The parents and children per¬ 
form different parts in the sacred offering, and the queen 
of heaven receives it as one that is the joint product of 
the whole family. The worship is family worship; the 
God of one is the God of all; the spirit of one is the 
spirit of all. 

“ And so it is with all family transactions and feelings. 
They implicate ordinarily the whole circle of the house, 
young and old, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. 
They act together, take a common character, accept the 
same delusions, practise the same sins, and ought I believe 
to be sanctified by a common grace.” * 

Now in this age, when the bias of thought is towards 
individualism, “the idea of organic powers and relations” 
is well-nigh lost. There is scarcely a recognition of the 
idea of a church life or family life, or if the conception 
is retained, it is merely as a speculative abstraction of no 

* Views of Christian Culture, by Horace Bushnell, p. 183. 


HOME. 


21 


practical use or importance. And yet this organic unity 
is predicated of the church, and by analogous reasoning 
authorized by inspired teaching, may be affirmed of the 
family organization (Ephes. v.) 

Paul in speaking of the church says, Ephes. ii. 19-21., 
“ Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, 
but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household 
of God; And are built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner-stone: In whom all the building fitly framed 
together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord.” The 
idea here of the church, is that of local proximity, and 
vital union and development. It is a house, but unlike the 
literal house, which rises by manual additions and super¬ 
positions— it grows. The same idea of organic unity is 
presented by St. Paul, in those passages in which he calls 
the church the body of Christ, and believers the members 
of this body. 

“ As a body in general, the church is an organic union 
of many members, which have indeed different gifts and 
callings, yet are pervaded by the same life-blood, ruled 
by the same head, animated by the same soul, all working 
together towards the same end.”* Now in a somewhat 
analogous sense, the family is an organic unity. As the 
church is the dwelling-place of Christ, in which he exerts 
all the powers of his theanthropic life, so the family is 
a union of members pervaded by the parental spirit and 
* Dr. Schaff’s Apostolic Church. 


22 


HOME. 


life, constituting an organic unity of the household. A 
common life animates every member, inducing spiritual 
assimilation and prompting a co-operative tendency to a 
common result. 

ORGANIC UNITY OP THE FAMILY. 

No being possesses an unmixed individuality. Every 
one is affected by his social relations and affinities. But 
the child in the family is in a peculiar sense the subject 
of a power beyond itself, from the organic connection of 
character subsisting between the parents and the child. 

According to Dr. Bushnell, the organic unity of the 
family is that power of the parents over the children, 
unconsciously exercised and received, by which the 
manners, personal views, prejudices, practical motives and 
spirit of the house, are as an atmosphere which passes 
into all and pervades all, as naturally as the air they 
breathe. The child opens into conscious life, under the 
soul of the parent, streaming into his eyes and ears ; it lives 
for a time within the moral agency of the parent, and 
passes out by degrees, through a course of mixed agency 
to proper independency and self-possession. The general 
tone and spirit of the house gives the will its first move¬ 
ment, and may be called atmospheric; for it is breathed 
into the child’s soul before he is conscious of it. Thus all 
the various moods of feeling, sentiment, and affection 
propagate themselves in young hearts. 

According to this view, it is not so much what parents 


HOME. 


23 


intend or plan for their children, as what they are, that is 
to have its effect. They are connected by an organic 
unity, not with your instructions, hut with your life. All 
instructions and by-means, cannot atone for the absence 
of a right spirit and life in the family. 

66 No mere affectations and will-work, can cheat the laws 
of life and character ordained by God. Your character 
is a stream, a river, flowing down upon your children, 
hour by hour. What you do here and there, to carry an 
opposing influence, is at best, only a ripple, that you make 
on the surface of the stream. It reveals the sweep of the 
current, nothing more. If you expect your children to 
go with the ripple, instead of the stream, you will be dis¬ 
appointed. Understand that it is the family spirit, the 
organic life of the house, that which works by an un¬ 
conscious, unseen power and perpetually—the silent power 
of a domestic godliness — this it is which forms your chil¬ 
dren to God. And if this be wanting, all that you may do 
beside will be as likely to annoy and harden as to bless.”* 

This solemn and responsible aspect of the family rela¬ 
tion is but dimly seen, and scarcely recognized by many 
religionists. Some have stared at Bushnell as a mystic 
dreamer, and repudiated his theory of Christian culture, 
based upon the organic unity of the family, as mere senti¬ 
mental speculations, if not something worse. And yet, 

* Bushnell on Christian Culture. 


24 


II OME. 


whatever objections may be made to the technical phrase¬ 
ology or form of this theory, the fact is undeniable, that 
there is such a thing as a home spirit and life — a domes¬ 
tic atmosphere and life, which we can recognize and feel 
as we enter, and mingle in the home-circle. In one family 
it is a spirit of money; in another, social ambition ; in 
another, pleasure; in another, unceasing mutual irritation, 
where each man is an overreaching Esau; in another, 
petty anxieties, where every woman is a troubled Martha; 
in another, it is a felt irreligiousness; in another, it is 
religious duty, a genial spirit of love and sanctity, a 
religious home-life. There may be great diversity of 
temper and character in the individual members of the 
household, yet you will discover running through them all 
a certain family character, a spirit of the house, giving 
moral complexion to the whole. How solemn and respon¬ 
sible the position of parents ! They must transmit their 
spirit and life into their children. Their life will be trans¬ 
lated into them, their odor will be forever in their gar¬ 
ments, their spirit will be perpetually breathed into their 
natures, forming character day by day, for salvation or 
perdition. “If a man were to be set before a mirror, 
with the feeling that the exact image of what he is for 
the day is there to be produced and left as a permanent 
and fixed image forever, to what carefulness, what delicate 
sincerity of spirit would he be moved! And will he be 
less moved to the same, when that mirror is the soul of 
his child?” 


HOME. 


25 


This law of the House, call it organic unity or what 
you please, was ordained originally for the nurture of holy 
virtue, in the beginning of each soul’s history. The 
introduction of sin, has perverted this beneficent law of 
the household, and made it a fearful instrument of evil. 
But every principle of analogy and every right conception 
of the recuperative economy of grace, lead us to expect 
that Christianity would take possession of this organic law 
of the family, sanctify it, and make it instrumentally sub¬ 
servient to the merciful designs of holiness and salvation. 
So that the very organic unity of the race, which propa¬ 
gates the moral virus of sin, is made a sanctified medium 
of spiritual life. 

It is easy to see what elements of power inhere and 
operate in the family organism-power, for evil or good. 
What tremendous issues are dependent upon the ruling 
spirit and life of the household! 

Every family has its law of family life — its ruling 
principle or passion. And that law—according as it is a 
law of sin or of holiness — of the world or of Christ, will 
make the family a tremenduous organism of evil and 
death, or a sanctuary of spiritual life and culture — a 
church, in which the silent power of a domestic godliness 
shall mould childhood to virtue, God, and heaven. 

As the other aspects and relations of the family will be 
specially considered in the succeeding chapters of this 
volume, we now claim attention to the one normal idea of 
the Family, as the school of childhood, the seminary of 

a 


26 


HOME. 


state and church. The development of this idea, will 
show that the domestic constitution in its original functions, 
according to the Divine ideal, is as essential as the ele¬ 
mentary school of grace to the full effect of the remedial 
economy, and fundamental to all social progress and 
Christian civilization. 

This high and distinctive aim of the family, was 
variously affirmed during the theocratic period. When 
vindicating the inviolable sanctity of the conjugal tie, the 
prophet asks,* “Did He not make one? though He had 
the residue of the Spirit. And why one? That he 
might seek a godly seed.” The original formation of one 
man and one woman into “one flesh,” or conjugal body, 
contemplated the rearing of a pious offspring. Other and 
inferior ends were to be secured by it, but this was its 
ultimate design. The Christian ideal of the family is that 
of a normal religious school for the education of childhood 
— to which the physical object, the propagation of the 
race, is subordinate and subservient. Christianity seeks 
by the consecration of each family, to beautify the world 
with religious Homes, as the firmament is gemmed with 
stars. And thus to make earth a divine school, in which 
to rear a sinful race for glory and immortality. 

As introductory to the consecutive Home-scenes brought 
to view in this volume, we are led to consider this pri¬ 
mordial design of the Family, as the elementary school of 
the race. 


* Mai. ii. 15. 


HOME. 


27 


HOME, THE NORMAL SCHOOL OF CHILDHOOD. 

“ Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee 
thy wages.” 

“Break oblivion’s sleep, 

And toil with florist’s art 
To plant the gems of virtue deep 
In childhood’s fruitful heart. 

To thee the babe is given, 

Fair from its glorious Sire, 

Go, nurse it for the King of Heaven, 

And He will pay the hire.” 

Home must be the earliest and most influential school. 
Nowhere else is so much infused into our entire being: 
and at no after-period of life, are such elements at work, 
formative of human character and destiny, as in the 
plastic a;id impressible years of childhood. Whatever 
may be our theories of the organic life of home, it is there 
the soul of childhood inspires the very life of after years, 
receives the radical principles and moral bias of manhood, 
the very cast and current of destiny. And hence, how 
wonderfully has the Father of spirits pre-arranged the 
scene into which the infant comes for its education! The 
world into which the little sojourner comes is precon¬ 
figured not only to its bodily constitution, but with mani¬ 
fold hidden adaptations and influences, for the gradual 
unfolding of mind and moral development. So that life 
is a school from our earliest consciousness. The periods 
of life are its terms; all human conditions are but its 


28 


HOME. 


forms. Families are the primary departments of this 
moral education; the world is but the material structure 
reared for the administration of its teachings. 

1. The advent of the child is into a world, in which 
there exists the most wonderful adaptations of nature for 
the awakening and development of the soul. In early 
childhood, external nature seems to imprint itself photo¬ 
graphically upon the uninscribed and plastic soul. “ With 
what an early care and wonderful apparatus does Provi¬ 
dence begin the work of human education! An infant 
being is cast upon the lap of nature, not to be supported 
or nourished only, but to be instructed. The world is its 
school. All elements around, are its teachers. Long ere 
it is placed on the first form before the human master, it 
has been at school; insomuch that a distinguished states¬ 
man has said with equal truth and originality, that he had 
probably obtained more ideas by the age of five or six 
years, than he has acquired ever since. And what a won¬ 
derful ministration is it! What mighty masters are there 
for the training of infancy, in the powers of surrounding 
nature! With a finer influence than any human dicta¬ 
tion, they penetrate the secret places of that embryo 
soul, and bring it into life and light. From the soft 
breathings of Spring to the rough blasts of Winter, each 
one pours a blessing upon its favourite child, expanding 
its frame for action, or fortifying it for endurance. You 
seek for celebrated schools and distinguished teachers for 
your children; and it is well. Or you cannot afford to 


HOME. 


29 


give them these advantages, and you regret it. But con¬ 
sider what you have. Talk we of far-sought and expen¬ 
sive processes of education? That infant eye hath its 
master in the sun; that infant ear is attuned by the 
melodies and harmonies of the wide, the boundless crea¬ 
tion. The goings on of the heavens and the earth, are 
the courses of childhood’s lessons. The shows that are 
painted on the dome of the sky and on the uplifted moun¬ 
tains, and on the spreading plains and seas, are its 
pictured diagrams. Immensity, infinity, eternity, are its 
teachers. The great universe is the shrine, from which 
oracles, oracles by day and by night, are forever uttered. 
Well may it be said that “of such,” of beings so cared 
for, “is the kingdom of heaven.” Well and fitly is it 
written of him, who comprehended the wondrous birth of 
humanity and the gracious and sublime providence of 
heaven over it, that “he took little children in his arms 
and blessed them.”* 

Influences are thus streaming in upon the child from 
the great surrounding system into which he has come. 
Every object soon becomes a book, and every place a 
school-house. “While we have been teaching him to 
walk, he has been mentally running and flying in a 
thousand directions. While we are filling his little hands 
with flowers, the garden and the field are pouring all their 
botany and zoology into his mind.” 

2. But after all, this outward system of nature, is but 

8* 


* Dewey — School of Life. 


30 


HOME. 


the material structure for the administration of the moral 

_ ^ 

teachings of the family. What the child learns at home, 
will determine what he shall see and hear in the lighted 
dome above, or the vocal universe around us. 

The fact that the child is introduced by the Divine or¬ 
dination into the bosom of the family, is in itself an in¬ 
timation that Home is the true school of childhood, and 
that in the family, would be found the requisites, for the 
education of the child in all that pertains to its highest 
well-being. How beautifully is every thing in the 
domestic economy, prearranged and adjusted for this 
educational purpose. The relations between parent and 
child, and all the social affinities of home, are so many 
natural facilities, for the training of the young. The 
natural instincts and affections are peculiarly adapted 
and made subservient to the same end. And then, “ it is 
a wise ordination of Providence, that at our outset in life, 
we should come in contact with human nature under its 
best aspect; that, under the relation of parent and child, 
we should form our first acquaintance with humanity.” * 
By this arrangement the child learns in the tender solici¬ 
tude and love of earthly parents, to recognize the higher 
love of its Father in Heaven. The mother wakens earliest 
in the child the sentiment of love. It is her embrace 
that first unlocks his heart, and opens its mysterious 
and unfathomable issues. It is thus, that home is 
formed for the development and education of the 
* Parkinson’s Hulsean Lectures. 


HOME. 


31 


heart. Love watches over our birth. The first human 
feeling extended towards us is a mother’s love. The first 
human force we meet is woman’s love. All this tends to 
w T aken and unfold the affections, to give them their culture 
and hasten their growth. Another fact conducive to the 
same end is, that the child is committed to the parents, 
with a nature uninscribed and impressible, ready to re¬ 
ceive through them the signature of Heaven, and the im¬ 
print of the Divine image. It is obvious from these pre¬ 
ordained facilities for the education of the child in the 
family, that whilst other schools may be needful as the 
supplement of domestic training, there can be no substi¬ 
tute for Home education. Pestalozzi says — “ There are 
no better teachers than the house, or the father’s and 
mother’s love, and the labor at home, and all the wants 
and necessities of life. It is this domestic education, 
which, of all others, is most wanting in all classes under 
our present system. Without it, public education may be 
good in an intellectual point of view (though even that is 
difficult;) in a moral it must be defective, if not worse. 
The tendency of modern institutions, fond of masses, and 
co-operation, and broad effects, and sudden display, is to 
weaken and limit these home-bred influences.” 

The hand of God has placed the child in the Home- 
school, and put in the hands of the parents the key to 
the recesses of its heart; and, if they fail to use it, those 
depths remain closed to every other agent. No extra- 


32 


HOME. 


domestic tuition can compensate for the want of this 
normal, divinely ordained school of childhood. 

“ Drive not a timid infant from his home, in the early spring-time 
of his life — 

Commit not that treasure to an hireling.”. 

3. As the family is ordained of God as the normal 
school of childhood, it must be the most influential, the 
most formative of character. The reasons for this as¬ 
sumption are found in the fact, that the domestic constitu¬ 
tion is pre-arranged by the Divine Hand for this grand 
end, in which pre-arrangement are involved the adapta¬ 
tions and facilities to this end, to which we have just 
referred. In harmony with these appointed requisites in 
the family for the education of childhood, we may notice 
that the education of the child begins with the moment 
of its birth. Its education can be no more suspended 
than its life. “ Prior to its birth, the mother may be 
regarded as living in the soul of the child; at that moment 
the child begins to live for a time in the soul of the 
mother. While the father is yet marking the moment of 
its birth, its first pulse has already dated its training for 
eternity.” 

The young immortal makes its advent into the family, 
passive, ductile, impressible. There it is to waken into 
its first sensuous experience, there to feel the first flush of 
passion, and the first touch of pity, there to will with the 
first motive of hope, and there to love with the first gush 



HOME. 


33 


of affection. How much begins there! If mind like 
matter moves in the direction of the impelling force, how 
momentous is the first impulse. What divergent lines of 
destiny reach out from the cradle to glory or perdition ! 

From the earliest childhood, every thing is formative 
of character. At first, the parents can do hut little more 
than protect the tender germ from ungenial influences, 
careful that the maternal heaven over it he pure and 
cloudless, and surrounding the infant bud with the quiet 
atmosphere of a cheerful home, that it may spontaneously 
unfold as an opening flower in vernal suns. 

During the earliest stages of childhood it is open to im¬ 
pressions, and the character is forming under a principle 
not of choice, hut of nurture. The spirit of the house is 
breathed into his nature day by day. The variant moods 
of feeling in the household pass into him as impressions, 
and become seeds of character in him — not because the 
parents will, but because it must be so, whether they will 
or not. u They propagate their own evil in the child, not 
by design, but under a law of moral infection.” How 
important the moral atmosphere of the house, - in the 
initial nurture of the child! 

4. Gradually, the child passes out of this state of mere 
passivity, and becomes receptive of influence in the 
common sense of that term. It responds to the maternal 
smile and look of love — any kind of sentiment or feeling 
in the parental face, wakens a responsive sentiment or 
passion. Next it begins to apprehend the meaning of 


34 


HOME. 


words, and is influenced by the parent through the medium 
of language. “ Farther on, the parents begin to govern 
him by appeals to will, expressed in commands, and what¬ 
ever their requirement may be, he can as little withstand 
it, as the violet can cool the scorching sun, or the tattered 
leaf can tame the hurricane.” .... During all this time, 
the parents are transfusing their spirit, sentiments and 
life into the child, working a character in him, the very 
transcript of their own, by virtue of an organic power. 
And as the child, in the wise adjustments of Providence, 
remains for years in this primary school, the parents have 
an opportunity, not only of tracing on its heart the 
first inscriptions which it receives, and of moulding its 
character while it is in its most impressible state, but of 
continuing to retouch and deepen those impressions for a 
succession of years. 

5. Take as a final consideration, showing the transcen¬ 
dent importance of this school in the family, the familiar 
fact, that the impressions received there, are the most 
lasting and influential. “ Every first thing continues for¬ 
ever with the child; the first color, the first music, the 
first flower, paint the foreground of life. Every new 
educator effects less than his predecessor; until, at last, 
if we regard all life as an educational institution, a cir¬ 
cumnavigator of the world is less influenced by all the 
nations he has seen than by his nurse.”* 

We need not dwell upon the enduring and formative 
* Richter’s Levana. 



HOME. 


35 


potency of the early impressions of childhood. It is a 
fact expressed in the convictions, and confirmed by the 
observations of mankind. The first influences and in¬ 
structions determine almost to a certainty those which are 
to act with a governing power on the soul throughout life. 
It has been said that the man is made at six years of age. 
The after process is the filling up of the previous outlines. 
A whole eternity is enfolded in the tender years of child¬ 
hood. And what gives additional, we may say, moment¬ 
ous interest, to these impressible and formative years, is 
the fact that there is but one youth in our being. There 
may be a second childhood, but not a second youth. The 
precious, momentous period of youth, when it leaves us, 
passes away forever. There is no Gibeon in life upon 
which w T e can rest for a moment, the morning or the noon¬ 
tide. “ We cannot rekindle the morning beams of child¬ 
hood; we cannot recall the noontide glory of youth.” 
Never, no, never! Momentous crisis, — the season of 
youth! What unutterable interest attaches to the family, 
the nursery where these germs of immortality are grown; 
where character is formed for life, and destiny is deter¬ 
mined for eternity! 

Having thus considered what Home must be as the 
normal school of childhood, we have virtually anticipated 
what Home, as such a school, ought to be. As it is the 
earliest and most influential school, it ought to be the most 
religious. 

The Family, according to the Divine ideal, must be the 


36 


HOME. 


CHURCH OF CHILDHOOD. 

^ As Paradise was the home of man in innocence, so home 
was meant to be the Paradise of childhood, where the family 
should pass through a moral probation. How responsible, 
in this aspect, the position of this primary institution! 
How beautiful the relations and sanctities of Home, as the 
sanctuary of childhood — a garden of Eden, without the 
tempter. 

In a truly Christian home, the child is received by the 
parents out of the hand of God; and while clasping it to 
their hearts of love, they look reverently up to their higher 
Father, with the prayer it may be saved in the life ever¬ 
lasting. Such parents receive the child in the name of 
Christ. The young immortal inhales the spiritual atmo¬ 
sphere of a domestic godliness; the very life and feelings 
of the parents pass into the child, as impressions, and 
become seeds of character, and the entire order, peace, 
and sanctity of the Christian home; “ the sacred and 
cheerful liberty of the spirit, all glowing about the young 
soul as a warm and genial nurture, form in it, by methods 
that are silent and imperceptible, a spirit of duty and 
religious obedience to God. This is Christian nurture, 
the nurture of the Lord.” 44 

Where all the conditions of the Christian home are 
realized, we believe the child, with rare exceptions, will 


* Bushnell’s Christian Culture. 


HOME. 3T 

grow up a Christian, and the family he in reality the 
nursery of the church. 

As the general relations of the family will he con¬ 
sidered hereafter, we shall glance now at the special 
conditions of the Christian home, involved in parental 
duty and essential to the spiritual nurture of childhood. 

1. The first condition relates to the reception of the 
child into the family. “ Whosoever shall receive this 
child in my name, receiveth me.” The Saviour indicates 
to parents in this declaration how they should greet the 
new-horn soul, on its advent into the household — with 
what feelings to clasp it to their hearts — how to estimate 
the immortal nursling, and with what grand purpose to 
conduct its nurture and education. It is not to be 
received merely with a sentimental admiration, or an 
indulgent fondness — with selfish aims and purposes; hut 
in the name of Christ. Such a reception is compre¬ 
hensive of all parental duty to the child. It involves a 
recognition of the sanctity of the child as an immortal 
being—as an inheritor of Christ’s promises, and partaker 
of his redemption — as the appointed subject of baptism, 
of prayer, and of inward renewal — to grow up, under the 
spiritual culture of home, a disciple of Jesus, a Christian, 
an expectant heir of eternal glory. 

2. Such a reception of the child, in the name of Christ, 
will naturally lead to its formal dedication to God. This 
is a duty recognized by all Christians, of whatever name. 
It would seem, indeed, to be a suggestion of nature, since 

4 


38 


HOME. 


we find something like it even among the heathen. As 
the devotees of Juggernaut are drawing along the idol-car, 
bearing the god whom they worship, the heathen mother 
places the hands of the infant upon the ropes; thus early 
seeking to produce impressions of duty to worship his 
mother’s god. Williams, the missionary, relates, that the 
mother in the South Sea Islands, even before a child was 
horn, used to go to the temple with the requisite offering, 
where the priest performed the ceremony of infusing “ the 
spirit of the god” into the child. After its birth, the 
same rite was repeated. The old Romans had a touching 
superstition, of holding the face of the new-horn infant 
upward to the heavens ; signifying, by thus presenting its 
forehead to the stars, that it was to look above the world 
into celestial glories. Christianity gives us the clear 
realization of that dim, pagan yearning, in a Christian 
baptism and training. What shall be said of professedly 
Christian parents who do not discover even the heathen’s 
sensibility, and with all the blessed ordinances of the Son 
of God in their sight, withhold their children from Christian 
baptism, and the benediction of the church ?* 

Having received the child in the name of Christ, sur¬ 
render him, in holy baptism, to both the mercy and the 
authority of the sovereign Trinity — Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost; and then receive him from the baptismal 
font and benedictive arms of Christ as a sacred trust, con- 


Iluntington. 


HOME. 


89 


secrated and pledged for God, to be nurtured for Christ 
and glory. 

“ And happiest ye, who seal’d and blest, 

Back to your arms your treasure take, 

With Jesus’ mark impress’d, 

To nurse for Jesus’ sake.” 

3. This dedication prepares the way for the religious 
education of the child. As the act of dedication was an 
acknowledgment of the parents’ dependence on God, this 
duty of religious training implies his responsibility. In 
the yet sleeping faculties of his babe, the Christian parent 
beholds a capacity which is to be developed not only to 
the limits of time, but to unending issues. Of this parental 
duty and its method, we remark, that they comprehend : 

Prayer. — Your child, says one, must know, he must 
see, he must feel, that between your parent-heart and Him 
who is the Infinite Father of all, there is open and 
conscious communion. This prayer is needful for the 
parents themselves, that they may have wisdom and 
grace, faith and patience, in their responsible work. It 
is needful, as the ordained method of securing the divine 
blessing upon the child, and of giving power and efficiency 
to all other means for its religious culture. Besides, 
this confiding daily intercourse between the household and 
Heaven will awaken in the child a conscious relation to 
the unseen and the eternal. And as the vague dreams 
of Infinity and dim presentiments in the depths of the 
soul are awakened, he is prepared to look up, as the 


40 


HOME. 


maternal finger points to Heaven, and to find in God that 
which he had previously found in his parents. Prayer, 
with and for our children, is among the very first duties 
in this domestic education. 

“ Hold the little hands in prayer. 

Let him see thee speaking to thy God; he will not forget it after¬ 
wards ; 

When old and gray will he feelingly remember a mother’s tender 
piety, 

And the touching recollection of her prayers, shall arrest the 
strong man in his sin.” 

Biblical Teaching. — Receiving the child in Christ’s 
name, it is . to be studiously taught Christ’s Gospel. Pa¬ 
tiently and humbly must the great facts, and personages, 
sublime truths, touching incidents, and beautiful imagery 
of the Bible, be familiarized to the mind of childhood. 
“ Its psalms must be sung into his soul. Its beatitudes 
and commandments must be fixed in his remembrance. 
Its parables must engage his fancy. Its miracles must 
awe his wonder. Its cross and ark, and all its sacred em¬ 
blems, must people his imagination. Without that Bible, 
no child born among us can come to Him, whom only the 
Bible reveals.” The Christian fidelity of parents, in this 
duty, should be such as to justify the affirmation concern¬ 
ing each one of their children, as of Timothy — “that 
from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith, 
which is in Christ Jesus.” 

Example.—N o formal teaching, or devotions, will avail 



HOME. 


41 


without a holy life and example. According to the laws 
of the house already referred to, it is not so much what 
parents plan and intend for their children, as what they 
are , that is to have its effect. The child is connected by 
an organic unity, not with your instructions, but with 
your life. And your life is more powerful than your in¬ 
structions can be. The spirit of the house which is your 
spirit, the whole working of the house which is actuated 
by you, the silent power of home piety, it is this that will 
form your children to virtue and godliness. What you 
are they will almost necessarily be.* Such is the consti¬ 
tuted relation of the family, that you must transmit not 
only your name and physical temperament, but breathe 
into your children, your very spirit and life. “ Singly 
and solely on the supposition that the spiritual life of the 
parents is transplanted into the children, does the com¬ 
munication of corporeal life become a blessing.”f It is, 
therefore, by a religious life, that this Christian nurture 
of childhood is to be secured. 

God hath set Israel in families, that the piety of the 
parents may infold the spirit of the child — embosoming 
the young immortal in the love of God, so that it grows 
in the nurture of the Lord, as naturally as the bud 
unfolds its flower and beauty to the summer air and sun. 
Let those who occupy the responsible position of parents, 
entrusted with the religious education of children, be 

* See Bushnell, on the Organic Unity of the Family. 

fTholuck — Sermon on the Mount. 

4 * 


42 


HOME. 


careful to maintain a life of piety, “ allure to brighter 
worlds and lead the way.” 

As inclusive of all these requisites of religious culture 
and training, let the house be set in the spiritual order, 
let the home be Christian in its spirit and entire economy. 
Aristotle ordered that the artists should paint or re¬ 
present nothing in the temple, in sight of the children, 
but what was pure and beautiful; that their reading 
should be such as to foster purity, lest by the corruption 
of the youth, the state should be endangered. From 
their childhood, they were to see or hear nothing, that 
would, in the least, diminish their reverence for the gods, 
for this would be subversive of their religion. This 
teaching of the Grecian philosopher, is worthy of a 
Christian baptism and application. Let the home of 
childhood be Christian in its spirit, and in all its domestic 
economy. Let the pictures and books be such as to 
foster a taste for the pure and beautiful. Let the recrea¬ 
tions be such as are congenial with enlightened piety. 
In short, let the home be religious in form and spirit. 
There let God be acknowledged in praise and prayer. 
There let the eternal world be unveiled, and every 
blessing bring it near in gratitude, and every trial draw 
down its consolation. There let every morning unite the 
family as at the gates of heaven, and every evening see 
them part with love and benediction, as to their final 
rest. Such a home will have a religious atmosphere, that 
will counteract the evil influences that surround the child 


HOME. 


43 


in the world without. There is a fable, in German litera¬ 
ture, of the daughter of an Erlking, whose business it is 
to tempt little children away from parents and home. 
Temptation is the Erlking’s daughter that never dies. In 
a thousand winning forms she seeks to lure the unsuspect¬ 
ing youth from home, from virtue, from happiness, from 
heaven. Let home be such as to shield the child from 
the assaults of the great adversary, and fortify him 
against the seductive pleasures of the world. 

“ From the foul dew, the blighting air 
Watch well your treasure newly won; 

Heaven’s child and yours, uncharm’d by prayer, 

May prove Perdition’s son.” 

Happy the childhood that is blessed with a Christian 
home! Happy the parents, who so fulfil the conditions 
of the Christian household, that their children can say, as 
one said of his parents, “Well, if there are only two 
Christians in the world, my father is one and my mother 
is the other.” Such homes and such parents are the 
greatest blessings and benefactors of the world. We 
cannot well over-estimate the blessings that must flow 
from 

CHRISTIAN HOMES. 

“Bright be the spot, and pure the ray, 

That wins the infant’s eye; 

A path of light, a glorious way, 

To guide his soul on high.” 


44 


HOME. 


Here, as the school of childhood, abide the deepest 
springs of social life. All life flows from the centre, 
outwards. And whether we seek to promote the general 
virtue and order of society, advance the special objects 
of philanthropy, or the higher aims of Christian culture 
in the grander mission of the church, we cannot more 
directly and efficiently accomplish any of these noble 
purposes, than by learning first according to the Apostolic 
injunction, to show piety at home. It is the foundation 
of all society. It embosoms the germ and ideal of the 
state. It is the nursery of the Church. 

FACTS. 

“ Facts may be cited, almost indefinitely, to establish 
the connection of the family and church. In one town 
during a revival-season, in 1812, seventy-nine persons 
were added to the church, and all but four were the 
members of pious families. In another town, as the fruits 
of a revival in. 1811, one hundred were added to the 
church, eighty-eight of whom were from pious families. 
In yet another town, four-fifths of the converts, during a 
revival in 1815, belonged to religious households. In 
another still, nine-tenths of all the conversions during a 
powerful work of grace, in 1881, were connected with 
pious families. And thus in nearly every work of grace 
which refreshes Christendom from time to time, it will be 
found that very few are gathered from families in which 
the parents are not religious. The great mass of the 


HOME. 


45 


additions to Christ’s flock are from the families of the 
church. The history of every revival will prove this from 
accurate statistics.”* 

Some years ago, upon inquiry it was ascertained, that 
out of eighty theological students in the Andover Theo¬ 
logical Seminary, seventy were from homes of piety, 
where both father and mother were devoted to the Lord. 
In another theological seminary, all hut six of the students 
had come from pious families. A writer estimates that of 
all the ministers who are preaching the everlasting Gospel, 
ninety-nine hundredths of them came from families where 
one parental heart, at least, was in true sympathy with 
Christ. 

How do such facts put the seal of the Divine favor 
upon the pious home ! How do they signalize the Chris¬ 
tian household as the mightiest agency for all social 
elevation and progress — furnishing virtuous citizens for 
the state, nurturing living members for the church, and 
peopling heaven -with redeemed and glorified spirits ! 

0, if we could speak to the five millions of Homes in 
our land, we would urge upon the living heads of these 
families, the solemn and momentous responsibility of 
making their homes Christian, in form and spirit. We 
would ask each one to consider what stupendous issues are 
dependent upon a single family! “ Not only do many 

living palpitating nerves come down from parents and 


* Thayer — Hints for the Household. 


46 


HOME. 


friends, and centre in tlie hearts of their children; but, 
as they shall advance in life, other living and palpitating 
nerves, which no man can number, shall go out from their 
bosoms to twine round other hearts, and to feel their 
throbs of pleasure, or of pain, of rapture, or of agony!” 
How many destinies of others are linked with theirs; for 
aught you know, the salvation of ten thousand immortal 
souls may result from the religious education of a single 
child. It has been estimated that one revival of religion, 
which took place in Yale College, under the presidency 
of Dr. Dwight, raised up ministers who were instrumental 
in the conversion of fifty thousand souls in one genera¬ 
tion. What unutterable results were instrumentally de¬ 
pendent upon the simple fact, that Dr. Dwight was blessed 
with a Christian parentage, and his early years were 
spent in a Christian home ! 

For the sake of your children, let your home be sanc¬ 
tified by religion; let your teaching and example, as well 
as the whole spirit of the household, be such as shall secure 
their growth in the nurture of the Lord. Then may you 
say to your children, as a dying parent recently said: 
“ Such have been my instructions to you, that you will be 
ashamed to meet me at the day of judgment unprepared.” 

For the sake of the church, and the salvation of the 
world, we would urge this plea for the Christian home. 
We would plead for the church in every house” with 
the altar, the incense, the voice of prayer, and the song 
of praise. There should be a church in every house; there 


HOME. 


47 


must be, or the great design of the domestic institution, in 
its benignity to childhood, and its beneficent relations to 
the church and the world, will be a sad and deplorable 
failure. The family was ordained of God for the religious 
nurture of childhood. The infant members come into it as 
the symbols of celestial purity. It has no adequate 
explanation, except as it prepares -them for that state 
which they symbolized. If the earth is a temple, the 
family was its “holiest of all;” and all its divinely 
selected arrangements and influences were meant to be 
ever crying to each other, “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord 
God Almighty,” as the continuous service of love and 
worship trained up its members for heaven.* 

We conclude with a brief excursus upon 

THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE. 

“Paul . . . unto Philemon . . . and to the church in thy house, 
grace to you and peace, from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus 
Christ.” 

The expression “ church in the house” occurs in several 
of Paul’s Epistles, and designates the little band of disciples 
that met on the first day of the week, in some private 
house, for the worship of God. Or the salutation may be 
regarded as addressed to a family, all of whose members 
were Christians. For Origen says that when a whole 
family was converted, the salutation was sent to the 
church in such a house. And is not such a family, in a 


Patriarchy, by Harris. 


48 


HOME. 


subordinate sense, a chureh ? The family was the oldest 
church, holding its worship before temples were built, or 
priesthoods formed; and the true temple and the true 
priesthood, says one, instead of repealing, do but conse¬ 
crate anew the patriarchal church, and Moses and Jesus 
both give new power and beauty to the covenant with 
Abraham and the individual family. 

A church in every house — what a blessed realization ! 
But how can this be ? You have the answer in the bene¬ 
diction of Paul upon the household of Philemon, “ Grace 
to you and peace, from God, our Father, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ.” Grace and peace! these are the true 
consecration of the household. Grace, enriching all with 
God’s favor through faith in Christ Jesus; peace, drawing 
all hearts into unity, and harmonizing all the duties and 
home relations, by the assimilative power of divine love. 
The home is Christianized. “ The house,” says Dr. Bush- 
nell, “having a domestic spirit of grace dwelling in it, 
becomes the church of childhood, the table and hearth a 
holy rite, and life an element of saving power.” 0 that 
such households were multiplied in our land, that the 
church and home might go together, and unite our nation 
under the dominion of Christ, as under the empire of civil 
law! The blessings which flow from the church in the 
house are eloquently represented by an American writer : 
“ Such a household will have influences and associations 
peculiar to itself. The sons will be manly and tender; 
the daughters will be gentle and strong; parents and 


HOME. 


49 


children, in their mutual affections, shall bring out the 
finer harmonies of human life, that show God’s goodness, 
even more deeply than the chants of the Psalmist’s choirs. 
As changes come, and the years pass, treasured remem¬ 
brances shall fill the home with images sacred as the 
tablets and pictures of ancient chapels, and hopes more 
living than monumental marble can record in solemn 
churchyards, shall proclaim the resurrection and the life 
over the dead; and they who die of that family, wherever 
they close their eyes, will have in the cherished ministra¬ 
tions of that church in the house the mightiest of all proofs 
of the eternal home. The house made with hands opens 
into the eternal spheres, and its own life repeats Christ’s 
assurance of heavenly mansions.” 

Happy the childhood that is blessed with such a home ! 
More than for all earthly blessings, do I thank Heaven 
for the religious home, that gave my birth a Christian, 
baptismal welcome, and surrounded my earliest conscious¬ 
ness with the suggestions and ministries of a household 
piety, a domestic godliness, which, by an unconscious, 
unseen power, formed my open mind and heart for God 
and Heaven. 

“ The thought of those first years in me doth breed 
Perpetual benediction.” 

Thanks be to God; let us say it, Christians! ye whose 
early years were hallowed with religious homes. Thanks 
be to God for pious parents, and the Christian home of our 
5 


50 


HOME. 


childhood! And as the memory of such a home still 
lingers in our souls with a heavenly benediction, shall we 
not seek to multiply the families that call upon God ? 
With such remembrances of our early years, and with 
Christian solicitude for the culture of the soul in youth, 
we cannot but look with the deepest interest upon the 
domestic institution. It is one whose importance is de¬ 
monstrated by the instinct which creates it, and clings to 
it. All through life, how those old home-memories and 
home-influences surround us with an almost magic power ! 

Beautifully illustrative of this mighty instinct, and 
memory of Home, are these lines of Goldsmith: — 

“ In all my wanderings round this world of care, 

In all my griefs — and God has given my share, 

I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown, 

Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down: 
****** 

I still had hopes, my long vexations past, 

Here to return, and die at Home, at last.” 

Yes, is the responsive feeling of every Christian heart; 
let me live in a Christian home, where God is honored in 
the family worship, and the family life; where the dearest 
ties of earth are hallowed by a divine love; where the 
sweet communions of the household are made immortal 
by hopes of heaven; where even the broken links in the 
family circle are retained by Christian faith, and help to 
draw us heavenward. 0 yes, here would we live ! 

And when our time comes to depart, let our last look 


HOME. 


51 


be upon the faces we best love; let the gates that open 
into the celestial city, be these well-known doors; and 
thus let us die at home, in a Christian Home. And, 
knowing no better name for that world to which we go, 
we look up with eyes of hope and tearful rapture, and call 
it “Home.” 

“ My Father’s house, my heavenly home, 

Where ‘ many mansions’ stand, 

Prepared by hands divine, for all 
Who seek the better land.” 


Cjjujitn $*tnnb. 

THE HOLY FAMILY. 

Ave Maria! Mother blest! 

To whom, caressing and caressed, 

Clings the eternal child : 

Favored beyond archangel's dream, 

When first on thee, with tenderest gleam, 

Thy newborn Saviour smiled." — Keble. 

“ The earthly loves which Christ came to consecrate bear the 
germs of immortal uses, and are like Mary’s own emblem, the rose, 
which, though born in the earth, lifts its bloom and wafts its 
fragrance to the heavens." 

In our purpose to develope and illustrate the varied 
phases of home-life, it is natural to begin with the “ Holy 
Family .” Around no family group of sacred history has 
the human heart lingered with such unmingled wonder 
and delight. 

We read in our childhood the simple story of Luke, 
concerning the shepherds, who, after they received the 
message that a Saviour was horn, and listened to his birth 
hymn, chanted by the angels, went to Bethlehem — “ and 
found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a 
manger ,” and it lives in us a picture of beauty forever. 
From immemorial antiquity, that humble home-scene has 

( 52 ) * 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


53 


been mirrored to the soul, invested with unearthly sanctity 
and a halo of spiritual beauty, touching our hearts with 
the deepest religious emotions, and associating itself with 
our purest thoughts of heaven. 

And we ask, what is it that thus isolates that little 
group from all other family scenes, and invests that 
humble birth-place with such immortal glory ? The 
answer is suggested by the question. It was the imma¬ 
culate child Jesus that threw T around that little household 
such holy and undying memories. It was the birth-home 
of the “holy child Jesus.” The only home on earth 
that was ever blessed with a sinless child — a child pos¬ 
sessing all the elements of humanity without a taint of 
evil to mar its purity, or a shadow of sin to dim its 
celestial beauty. It was this that gave to that little 
group such undying interest, and immortalized it in 
Christian thought and memory as the “ Holy Family.” 

There is another feature in this household, peculiar and 
distinctive. In every other home-picture, the parents are 
the central figures. “ Their offspring, however they may 
afterwards eclipse them, are, in the beginning of their 
history, wrapped within those from whom, in their fortunes 
and in their character, they are developed.” But in this 
family group, the child is the central commanding figure, 
and so attracts to himself the eye, and so fills the whole 
vision of the soul, that the parents. are forgotten, and 
overshadowed by the glory of the child. 

Indeed, the bonds of this family are peculiar, and in- 

5 * 


54 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


vested with hallowed and profound mysteries. Joseph is 
but the foster-father of the child. As he bends over that 
infant cradle, it is with the love of a guardian, conscious 
of a holy trust,, which enlists the deepest affections of his 
manly and loving heart. “ And who shall define the tie 
which binds this child to his Virgin Mother ?” It was 
essential to the divine mission of Jesus, that he should 
possess human nature, without any moral taint or infection 
of its depravity. Hence, according to the Apostolic 
creed, based upon the sacred narrative, “He was con¬ 
ceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary. 
The natural and supernatural, were co-efficient factors, in 
the Divine assumption of humanity. The birth of Christ 
w T as the result of a direct creative act of God, and not of 
the ordinary laws of human generation. Conceived of the 
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. It was meet, that 
the incarnation should be a sacred mystery, around which 
the heart of the Christian world should linger with 
mingled emotions of reverence and holy joy. There is 
something inexpressibly touching in the thought expressed 
by Wordsworth, that in the Virgin Mother, were 
“blended and reconciled” those singular, but beautiful 
contrasts 

“Of mother’s love, and maiden purity, 

Of high and low, celestial and terrene.” 

What impenetrable mysteries intermingle and deepen 
the shadows of this picture of the Holy Family? Who is 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


55 


this child of supernatural conception and birth? And 
why does Mary mingle with those gentle looks and 
maternal caresses, the devout and reverent feelings of the 
worshipper? The answer is found in the fact, that in 
this scene is revealed, “ the great mystery of Godliness, 
God manifest in the flesh!” The stupendous truth flashes 
in upon the troubled and agitated bosom — the great 
mystery is unveiled to the heart—this babe is the incarnate 
God! 

“Thou wast born of woman, thou didst come, 

O Holiest! to this world of sin and gloom, 

Not in thy dread omnipotent array; 
****** 

But thee a soft and naked child, 

Thy mother undefiled, 

In the rude manger laid to rest 
From off her virgin breast.”* 

This home-scene is peculiar, as holding in its embrace 
the manifested God, the central fact of all the divergent 
lines of human history. “ All the predictions and 
promises of God which spanned the arch of four thousand 
years, terminated upon this babe of the manger. And 
from this new salient point, they spring forth to span with 
the rainbow of hope other thousands of years, terminating 
upon his second advent, when he shall come “to be 
glorified in his saints, and to be admired in them that 
believe.” 

What shadows of the infinite surround that infant 
* Milman’s Fall of Jerusalem. 


56 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


cradle! How profound the mystery that enfolds the 
child with Mary! How august, how beautiful! But it is 
only on our knees, with the eastern sages, before that 
rude manger, in lowliness of heart and adoring worship 
we can see it, or feel it, in its all-transforming power. 

“Wrapp’d in his swaddling bands, 

And in his manger laid, 

The hope and glory of all lands 
Is come to the world’s aid; 

No peaceful home upon his cradle smiled, 

Guests rudely went and came, where slept the royal child.” 

Millions upon millions of our race have trembled with 
joy and rapture before this scene of the incarnation, a 
mystery magnificent and thrilling. In the night of 
time, these voyagers, storm-driven upon the ocean of life, 
have looked up into the infinite depths above them, and 
beheld that glory-beaming star, radiant as at first when 
it was hymned by the angels on the plains of Bethlehem, 
and under its guidance have passed on, through tempest 
and darkness, to the haven of everlasting rest.* 

Every thing in this home-scene is unique and wonderful. 
The supernatural conception of the Virgin’s Son; the 
incarnation of the Godhead in him; and the concentra¬ 
tion upon him of all the lines of History and Prophecy, 
invest it with an unearthly sanctity and grandeur. And 
then the supernatural and mystic ties of affiliation in the 
household, give a peculiar expression and coloring to this 
* Theophany, by Turnbull. 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


57 


home-picture. In view of these peculiarities, and hallowed 
associations, it stands out in Christian thought and 
memory as the Holy Family. 

Expansion upon any one of these features or phases of the 
holy family, would be interesting and profitable; but such 
a direction of our thoughts would not comport with the 
general scope and design of the present work. Our object 
in adverting to this sacred picture, is simply to illustrate, 
by the domestic relations of this family group, the true 
home life and spirit as grounded in religion. 

We take two aspects of this home-scene; the one as it 
appears in Bethlehem, and the other representing Joseph 
with the young child and his mother, fleeing from Herod 
into Egypt. These two phases will suggest and illustrate 
the general relation of Christianity to childhood — as 
its friend and guardian — and the special benignity of 
the gospel to children, as seen in the maternal relation. 

The “ Flight to Egypt,” as painted by some of the old 
masters, presents these relations in some of their most 
touching and significant aspects. In the picture we see, 
as the central figure, a young child. On one side stands 
Mary, with troubled anxiety, watching beside her precious 
charge; on the other, in the distance, is the dark form 
of Herod, with rage and vengeance in his face, dooming 
to death the innocent babes of Bethlehem. It is an elo¬ 
quent, moral picture — the emblem of a great and per¬ 
manent reality. We see in this pictured flight a touching 
symbol of childhood and its perils, its guardian angel, and 


58 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


its evil genius. Mary, with the young child nestling in 
her bosom, borne away from the destructive sword of 
Herod, is suggestive of Christianity, as the guardian of 
childhood against the destructive power of sin in the world, 
especially emblematical of that guardianship as exercised 
through the instrumentality of the pious mother, and the 
Christian home. 

Herod still lives, in the varied and seductive forms 
of sin, and seeks the ruin of innocent and helpless child¬ 
hood ; and there is no protection against the destructive 
enemy like that of a mother’s love and prayerful vigilance, 
especially when that mother herself is embosomed in the 
church of Christ, which is the mother of us all. 

Let us look at these two phases of the Holy Family — 
first, as suggesting and illustrating the guardianship of 
Christianity over helpless childhood; and secondly, as a 
beautiful symbol or emblematic representation of that 
guardianship, as exercised through the instrumentality of 
the pious mother and Christian home. 

I. 

CHRISTIANITY THE GUARDIAN OF CHILDHOOD. 

Prior to the advent of the Son of God, there was little 
concern for children, beyond the Jewish Church; as a 
class, they were neglected, and often abandoned to in- 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


50 


fluences the most blighting and destructive. Paganism 
was cruel, and even among civilized nations there was 
but little deference paid to the touching and imperative 
claims of childhood. 

But with the coming of Christ, a new era dawned on 
the Home-institution. When the Saviour opened his 
arms and welcomed little children, with a look of 
benignity and love, he performed an act which has 
hallowed children in all subsequent time. He seemed to 
say, by the very attitude he assumed, as well as by the 
words of welcome which he uttered, — “ It is a part of my 
mission to help these little ones — I have come from 
heaven to be the child’s teacher and the child’s Saviour.” 

Ever since, Christianity has been the guardian of child¬ 
hood against the spirit and cruelty of the world. 

We And beautiful tokens among the earliest confessors 
of Christianity, of their care for the souls of their off- 
spring, commending them to Him who had opened the 
gates of everlasting life. In the Roman Catacombs, the 
inscriptions on the tombs of children are expressive of the 
tenderest parental feeling and Christian hope. “ Yir- 
ginius remained but a short time with us.” “ Sweet 
Faustina, may you live in God.” “Laurence to his 
sweetest son, Severus, borne away by angels on the seventh 
Ides of January.” How different^ says one, the spirit 
breathed in such inscriptions, from that inspired by the 
idolatry, that formed a god of the war-spirit, that makes 


60 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


childhood desolate and orphaned, or bows down before 
Moloch and casts children into the fire at his feet. 

Even in what are called the dark ages, the time of 
monkish austerity and priestly sway, we see glimpses of 
tender solicitude for childhood. In the Gothic Cathedral, 
that embodiment of the middle ages, the Holy Mother 
and her Divine child beam upon the worshipper from 
illuminated missals and painted windows. There by the 
altar stands the baptismal font; and the child of the 
poorest peasant is recognized as a lamb of the good 
shepherd, and received into his fold. What would child¬ 
hood have been in the dark ages without the church? 
What other power could have stood between innocence 
and its tempter and destroyer ? Who would have with¬ 
stood Herod, if the mother heart of Christianity had 
withheld its guardianship? 

Christianity is still the guardian of childhood, for 
Herod still lives. His spirit is still the spirit of the 
world — of the world’s passions and its policy. What 
multiform evils are all around to blight the innocence and 
purity of the young ! What perils surround their path ! 
What serpents are ever gliding among the very flowers of 
their spring ! “ The child ever needs protection; Herod 

ever in some form rages; Christianity, like a mighty ma¬ 
ternal heart, needs ever to keep its watch.” 

Let us look for a moment at the relations and mission 
of Christianity to 


TIIE HOLY FAMILY. 


61 


FRIENDLESS AND HOMELESS CHILDREN. 

1. Friendless children! what visions of gloom and sad¬ 
ness are called up by these words! What multitudes of 
these little ones are seen, at the twilight of evening, 
mingling in the homeward stream! Some, go to the sanc¬ 
tuary of loving homes; some, to places which it seems a 
mockery to call by that sweet name — where chill penury 
and want brood by the hearth, with gaunt misery and 
ghastly death. Others, retire to places that may be 
designated as moral tombs, where huddle the demons 
of drunkenness and debauchery; where God is but a 
dark cloud of muttering thunder in the soul; where child¬ 
hood is baptized in infamy, and overhung with curses. 
Hundreds, in our large cities, are found, in their early 
childhood, so helpless and confiding, and yet with no 
maternal bosom to lean upon — no words of love, like the 
breath of spring, to develop their affectional nature — left 
to the whirl of evil and the prowling destroyer. Such 
children are seen in our midst, left to the action of 
influences that cast over the young life an abiding gloom. 
Children, that look sad and melancholy, with the cares 
of ago and the forecast of evil fixed and frozen on their 
juvenile faces. “ A melancholy child ! what an anomaly 
among the harmonies of the universe ! something as incon¬ 
gruous as a bird drooping in a cage, or a flower in a 
sepulchre. 

6 


62 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


2. A few facts will serve to give a perceptible reality to 
the gloomy picture, and quicken our sympathy for poor 
and parentless children: 

A gentleman passing one day through the streets of 
Edinburgh, saw a boy, who lived by selling fire-wood, 
standing with a heavy load upon his back, looking at a 
number of boys amusing themselves in a play-ground. 
“Sometimes,” says the writer, “he laughed aloud, at 
other times he looked sad and sorrowful. Stepping up to 
him, I said, ‘Well, my boy, you seem to enjoy the fun 
very much; but why don’t you lay down your load of 

sticks?’.‘I wan’t thinking about the 

burden—I wan’t thinking about the sticks, sir.’ ‘And 
may I ask what you were thinking about ? ’ ‘ Oh, I was 

just thinking about what the good missionary said the 
other day. You know, sir, I don’t go to church, for I 
have no clothes; but one of the missionaries comes every 
week to our stair, and holds a meeting. He was preach¬ 
ing to us last week, and among other things he said — 
“Although there are rich folks and poor folks in this 
world, yet we are all brothers.” Now, sir, just look at 
these lads — every one of them has fine jackets, fine caps, 
with warm shoes and stockings; but I have none. So I 
was just thinking if those were my brothers, it doesn’t 
look like it, sir — it doesn’t look like it. See, sir, they 
are all flying kites, while I am flying in rags; they are 
running about at kick-ball and cricket, but I must climb 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


63 


the long, long stairs, with a heavy load, and an empty 
stomach, whilst my back is like to break. It doesn’t look 
like it, sir — it doesn’t look like it.’” Or, take the fol¬ 
lowing instance, which I extract from the Records of one 
of the Benevolent Societies of our own city : “ 4 Can you 
read or write ? ’ said the visitor to a poor boy. Marty 
hung his head. I repeated the question two or three 
times before he answered, and the tears dropped on his 
hands, as he said, despairingly, and I thought defiantly— 
6 No, sir, I can’t read, nor write neither. God don’t want 
me to read, sir. Indeed, so it looks likely. Didn’t He 
take away my father since before I can remember him ? 
And haven’t I been working all the time to fetch in some¬ 
thing to eat, and for the fire, and for clothes ? I went 
out to pick coal when I could take a basket in my arms; 
and I have had no chance for school since.’ ” Now this, 
says an eloquent writer, is fallacious and dangerous rea¬ 
soning ; nevertheless, it is reasoning, and shows that the 
mind of the poor boy is not inactive as to the problems 
of life. And the intellect which is so acute in theory, 
will soon drive to practice. Stimulated by that selfish 
instinct which, as I have shown, will under pressure 
absorb every other consideration, he speedily commences 
the career of crime . 

A gentleman in one of our cities, meeting a little boy, 
sad, tattered, and forlorn, with his fingers nervously 
clutching his old rags, said to him — “Well, my little 
fellow, whose child are you?” He dropped his head 


64 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


for a moment, and then looking up, with tears, said — 
“ Please, sir, I ain’t nobody’s child.” 0 what a sight, 
in such a world as this — “nobody’s child ! ” 

We must think of these friendless children. Think of 
them, as abused, neglected, driven into sin — often, by 
the very hands that should lead them to virtue and to 
heaven. Think of these orphan children — or worse than 
orphaned by living parents, bestialized by drunkenness 
and other lusts, and lost to all the instincts of natural 
affection. Think of these little ones, cradled in reeking 
filth, drinking in blasphemy and obscenity under a canopy 
of curses, that blights all that is beautiful and hides the 
very face of God! And then, that the picture may touch 
your heart with a personal interest, imagine, fond father, 
that your boy were thus friendless, and abandoned to 
every snare of evil, and damning power of sin, with none 
to warn or counsel, with no home to shelter him from the 
cruelty of an avenging Herod! And, ye mothers, 
imagine that your daughter, whom the very winds must 
salute with courtesy, were left without a .mother’s love 
and care, to be ensnared by the spoiler, and afterwards to 
walk through the streets at night, a painted desolation 
and a reeling shame ! Your heart trembles and thrills at 
the bare thought or possibility of such a destiny for your 
child. 

3. And yet we ask, are not these friendless children 
possessed of one common humanity — intrinsically of as 
costly material, and as dear to heaven, as the little ones 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


65 


that gladden your hearts and brighten your 'homes ? 0 

yes. Take the lowest phase of humanity among these 
out-cast and trampled little ones — take that ignorant, 
squalid, and tattered child, and wash its face and look 
into its eye, and you see there still the image of God — a 
crown-jewel, in its filthy and battered casket, a precious 
soul, around which angels love to linger, and for which 
Jesus died. 

4. There is another phase of childhood among the poor 
and neglected that is peculiarly touching in its appeals to 
our sympathy. It is where there are children, not merely 
in their orphanage, or in their touching sadness, exposed 
to temptation, want, beggary, and crime; but nobly 
struggling against the tide of evil—struggling against 
want, enduring and working for some one that is loved. 
The city missionary recounts incidents, from which might 
be written a Martyrology, with blood and tears, over 
many a gloomy threshold, on the walls of many a desolate 
room; a fearful record of human suffering — a sweet 
memorial of youthful virtue — of children , who are living 
martyrs. We give but one instance, from a book, which 
contains numerous memorials of this kind. 

It is of a beggar-girl who “ lives,” as the narrative 
goes on to say, “in a rear building where full daylight 
never shines — in a cellar-room where pure dry air is 
never breathed. A quick gentle girl of twelve years, she 
speaks to the visitor as he enters — 4 Mother does not see 
you, sir, because she’s blind.* The mother was an old 
6 * 


66 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


woman of sixty-five or seventy years, with six or seven 
others seated around. ‘But you told me you and your 
mother and little sister lived by yourselves.’ ‘Yes, sir 
— here it is;’ ” and at the end of the passage the visitor 
discovers a narrow place, about five feet by three. The 
bed was rolled up in one corner, and nearly filled the 
room. “‘But where is your stove?’ ‘We have none, 
sir. The people in the next room are very kind to mother, 
and let her come in there to warm — because, you know, 
I get half the coal.’ ‘But where do you cook your food?’ 
‘ We never cook any, sir; it is already cooked. I go 
early in the morning to get coal and chips for the fire, 
and I must have two baskets of coal and wood to kindle 
with by noon. That’s mother’s half. Then when the 
people have eaten dinner, I go round to get the bits they 
leave. I can get two baskets of coal every day now; but 
when it gets cold, and we must have a great deal, it is 
hard for me to find any — there’s so many poor chaps to 
pick it. Sometimes the ladies speak cross to me, and shut 
the door hard at me, and sometimes the gentlemen slap 
me in the face, and kick my basket, and then I come 
home, and mother says not to cry, for may be I ’ll do 
better to-morrow. Sometimes I get my basket almost 
full, and then put it by for to-morrow; and then, if next 
day we have enough, I take this to a poor woman next 
door. Sometimes I get only a few bits in my basket for 
all day, and may be the next day. And then I fast. 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


67 


because, you know, mother is sick and weakly, and can’t 
be able to fast like me.’ ” 

This is one of the “short and simple annals of the 
poor.” But those of whom Gray spoke rest peacefully 
in the “country churchyard;” their spirits are in heaven, 
and their history is embalmed in his own immortal Elegy. 
But these records are of those who yet live and suffer — 
“Martyrs without the palm.” 

And could I summon them before you, and would the 
Master but enter as when upon earth, surely he would 
look upon them in tender pity; would bless them; would 
take in his arms those whom the world has cast aside and 
overlooked. Nay, perhaps he would transfigure their 
actuality into their possibility, and we might see “the 
angels in their faces,” pleading with us before the Father’s 
throne! * 

5. Now, Christianity is the 

FOSTER-MOTHER 

of these living , juvenile martyrs , and these neglected, 
vagrant and friendless little ones. Her great maternal 
heart, yearns for these homeless children, and her hands 
are outstretched, through varied instrumentalities, to 
gather up these jewels from the very rubbish and moral 
wastes of social degradation. To gather them, not as 
soiled and trampled flowers, but flowers with something of 
Eden’s tints and beauty still about them, and bring them 
* Chapin — Humanity in the City. 


68 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


under the light of the sun of righteousness and the dews 
of heavenly grace, that they may revive and freshen 
with something of their lost loveliness; to unfold in the 
garden of the Lord on earth, and bloom in the Paradise 
of God above, forever. 

What a constellation of noble, philanthropic institutions 
have risen upon the dark places of the neglected and 
suffering poor! And among these institutions, stand 
pre-eminently such as have special reference to orphan 
and homeless childhood. We point, with a feeling of 
spiritual exultation, to these noble monuments of Chris¬ 
tianity, in her maternal care and solicitude, to seek out 
neglected children, and open to them the blessings of 
home and education, industry and religion. 

Among these institutions, we would name, “ The Mission 
at the Five Points,” “ The Children’s Aid Society,” “ The 
Asylum for Friendless Boys,” “ The Home for Friendless 
Children;” institutions originated and sustained by Chris¬ 
tian benevolence; institutions which show the practical 
operation of Christianity — first of all in the hearts of 
Christians, and then flowing out in action. Institutions, 
whose practical working is after the method of Jesus, 
which consisted not of mere teaching, but of help —which 
touched not only the issues of the sin-sick soul, hut the 
wants and sufferings of the body. 

“ How striking is the fact, that the freshest and noblest 
charities of this nineteenth century, are only developments 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


69 


of the manner in which the Redeemer soothed the sorrows 
and vanquished the evils of the world!” 

We point with peculiar pleasure in this connection, to 
“The Orphans' Farm School ,” and u The Orphan's Home," 
of the Lutheran Church, as special illustrations of the 
Divine method of benevolence * towards friendless chil¬ 
dren. I refer to the method, which, while it seeks pre¬ 
eminently the spiritual good, does not overlook the wants 
of the body — which aiming supremely at results for 
eternity, does not exclude the temporal. These institu¬ 
tions aim at the highest good of the orphan and neglected 
children, for the present and the future. “ A system of 
help which gives something more than spiritual instruction 
on the one hand, something more than mere food and 
clothing on the other; which combines measures of relief 
and nourishment for the demands of our whole nature in 
the form of the ignorant and suffering child; and which, 
better than all, lifts him out of the humiliating condition 
of a mere pauper or dependent, and sets him in a channel 
of manly exertion, self-development, and self-support; 
which not only does the negative work of removing a mass 
of evil from society, but makes for it the positive contri¬ 
bution of an improved and educated humanity.” 

It is in this way, Christianity exercises her fostering 

* These institutions were conceived and established by the Rev. 
W. A. Passavant, of Pittsburg. The Orphans’ Farm School is 
located in the vicinity of Pittsburg. The Orphan’s Home is in that 
city. Both are in successful operation, under the superintendence 
of the benevolent and indefatigable founder. 


TO 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


care and guardianship over friendless children. These 
institutions are the outstretched arms of Christianity, to 
gather the parentless and neglected children to her bosom, 
to be nurtured there, and sheltered from the persecuting 
sword of Herod. And as such, they have a practical 
claim upon the sympathy and co-operation of every 
Christian and philanthropist. And we may all, in some 
•way, assist in this good work, either by personal labors 
or contributions of our goods and money. We do not 
pretend to designate the specific form of our co-operation. 
Each knows what he can best do — what is his special, 
Providential call in the matter; but let him be assured 
that he has a call; and that this spectacle of orphan, 
suffering, imperilled childhood, is something, not merely 
to touch our sympathies, but to engage -our prompt, 
personal, and self-denying endeavours. It is not with 
tears and sympathy alone, that w T e are to answer the 
poor woman’s prayer — a prayer that echoes through so 
many anxious and sorrowing hearts — “May the Lord 
spare my Archy from the bad boys, and from taking to 
the ways of his father.” 

0 if these neglected children could present themselves 
before us, how would they plead for help! The very hand 
that has smitten them consecrates them to Christian 
charity. Think of these children, in their helplessness, 
sad and neglected, exposed to the destroyer! Think of 
your own early days, with all their tender associations 
of home, brothers, sisters, fathers, and more than all, 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


71 


of her who stood to you in Mary’s place, and blessed you 
with a Christian mother’s love ! And as your heart w T arms 
with these sacred memories, help to give to these outcast 
little ones a home, and what may be to them the best sub¬ 
stitute for a mother’s care and nurture. Think of Him 
who put his hands upon little children, and blessed them, 
and who said — “ Whoso shall receive one such little 
child in my name, receiveth me. And whosoever shall 
give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold 
water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto 
you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.” 

“ Though I depart, the poor remain ; 

Kindness to them, is love to me! ” 

The second phase of the picture illustrates the special 
benignity of the gospel to childhood, as exhibited in the 
sacred relation of the mother to the child. 

II. 

MARY; OR, THE TRUE IDEAL OF A CHRISTIAN 
MOTHER. 

“ And when they were come into the house, they saw the young 
child, with Mary, his mother.” 

“ His throne, thy bosom blest, 

0 Mother undefiled; 

That throne, if aught beneath the skies, 

Beseems the sinless child/' — Keble. 

There is no scene in sacred history invested with such 
religious interest as the one before us. It stands pre- 


72 


TIIE HOLY FAMILY. 


eminent in the memory and affections of the world, sur¬ 
rounded with an air of sanctity and a halo of spiritual 
beauty, touching our hearts with the deepest religious 
emotions, and associating itself with our purest thoughts 
of heaven. 

The extravagant and blasphemous homage paid to Mary 
by Romanists, has, unconsciously, repelled the Protestant 
mind from that veneration due to Mary, alike for her per¬ 
sonal piety and loveliness and her honored position as the 

Mother of Jesus.There is much beauty in the 

Catholic conception of the blessed Virgin. Some of the 
sweetest effusions of their devotional poetry are chanted 
in her praise, whilst art has been consecrated to set forth 
the Holy Mother in celestial beauty and angelic loveliness. 
To the primitive disciples, it was natural the very name 
of Mary should mingle with their holiest memories of 
earth, and inspire them with a reverence for a moral 
loveliness now in heaven. This sentiment, sobered and 
modified by our Protestant faith, still lingers among us 
with our religion and our homes. 

Whilst we repudiate the priestly dogma, which inspheres 
Mary in heaven above all saints and angels, we are not 
insensible to the beautiful feeling and sentiment involved 
in the dogma. As we look upon our homes, adorned with 
the graces of woman, and beautified with the innocence 
of childhood, we may exclaim, “Hail, Mary!” in the 
Gospel sense. We can say, “Blessed art thou among 
women,” — among them, not above them; among them, to 



THE HOLY FAMILY. 


73 


illustrate the true mission of woman; among them, as the 
representative of our highest ideal of the Christian 
Mother. 

There is but occasional reference in the gospel history 
to Mary’s life and work. From her vigil beside the 
manger to her tearful agony before the cross, we have 
only a few glimpses of the mother, in her deep devotion 
and tenderness, mingled with Christian faith and heroic 
fortitude, watching, with alternations of hope and fear, 
the gradual development of that mysterious life, whose 
infant-weakness was intrusted to her care. 

We have in one or two historical incidents, a vivid pic¬ 
ture of this Christian mother. 

1. Her faith in God. When Gabriel accosted her with, 
“ Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee; 
blessed art thou among women,” she is calm and self- 
possessed, and though troubled, makes no response, but 
“casts in her mind” the import of this startling saluta¬ 
tion. “ This single ray of historic light daguerreotypes 
her character before us, with imperishable distinctness; 
what habits of patient meditation and inward self-com¬ 
munion does this perfect self-control reveal ? ” 

When the angel unfolded the import of the salutation, 
that she should bring forth a son, and should call his name 
Jesus, &c., we see her faith. 

It w'as something, in all its details of unprecedented 
strangeness. It involved contingencies and implications, 
from which her maidenly delicacy might have recoiled. 
7 


T4 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


It involved a succession of miracles; but as it was all 
referred by the angel to the veracity and almightiness 
of God, her confiding heart bowed in humble acquiescence, 
with the simple response, “ Behold the handmaid of the 
Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” What 
childlike simplicity and faith! All seeming difficulties, 
all conceived contradictions to facts and antecedents, 
vanish at a simple reference to the purposes of God, with 
whom nothing shall be impossible. It was this faith in 
God that gave such calm equanimity, such depth of cha¬ 
racter to Mary. It was this living faith in the providence 
and covenant of God that gave such womanly dignity and 
vigor, yet delicacy of sentiment, to her character. Mary, 
says one, is a beautiful example of the piety which breathed 
and burned in the ancient Hebrew Church, when the faith 
of God’s people fed upon the promise of a coming Messiah. 

There is scarcely, in the wdiole range of the Bible, a 
more beautiful instance of faith, humility, and meekness. 
Take into account the several circumstances to which we 
have hastily adverted, and there are not in the Bible words 
more expressive of thorough acquiescence, of unfeigned 
submission, and of unqualified confidence. Ask me to 
point out a saint, displaying extraordinary faith, and that 
too under circumstances the most adapted to perplex; and 
considering the sex, the age, the condition — I would rather 
direct you to Mary expecting the son Jesus, than to Abra¬ 
ham offering up his son Isaac. There was far less of 
apparent effort of the one than of the other —there is 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


75 


not in the Virgin the courage and the fortitude which you 
mark in the Patriarch — nevertheless, when you come to 
examine all the circumstances of the two—what the two 
were — what they had to believe -- what they had to 
endure — we think you will hardly question the accuracy 
of the decision that in the secresy of the Virgin’s chamber 
there was a yet more signal moral triumph, than on the 
summit of Moriah, when the father’s hand was lifted up 
to slay the child of promise.* 

2. In her interview with Elizabeth, in her mountain 
home, we have a beautiful development of her deep 
religious emotions and enthusiasm. That sweet canticle, 
that joyous outgushing of her heart, reveals the deep 
springs of feeling and piety that welled up in her soul. 
What enthusiasm of grateful exultation, when greeted by 
her cousin Elizabeth: 

“ My soul doth magnify the Lord, 

And my spirit doth rejoice in God, my Saviour, 

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: 

For behold! from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” 

“Where,” says an eloquent writer, “among those 
favored with education or gifted with genius, shall we 
find a better interpreter of womanhood, in its mission 
from God, than that trusting Hebrew in her filial faith 
and unwavering devotion ? . . . . Her soul attuned to 
devotion by the Psalms of her great ancestor, David, and 


* Melville. 


76 


TIIE IIOLY FAMILY. 


inflamed with hope by the visions of prophets, and schooled 
to patient charity by the choicest examples of the mothers 
in Israel, she stands at the centre of Providential history, 
receiving from the former ages their mantle of honor, and 
transmitting it to the new ages enriched with a divine 
grace destined to brighten with time.” 

3. Another feature in Mary, worthy of special notice, 
•was her intense maternal feelings, her exquisite tenderness 
and affection as a mother—the mother of Jesus. This 
feeling, in some degree, is an irrepressible instinct of 
nature. But in Mary, it was so intensified and directed 
by religious faith, that it becomes something sacred and 
heavenly, and she stands before us in sacred history as 
the impersonation of our highest ideal of a Christian 
mother. That gifted genius, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 
thus pictures Mary’s feelings, as she watches beside her 
sleeping child: 


“ Sleep, sleep, mine Holy One. 
******* 
I am not proud — meek angels, put ye on 
New meekness, to hear such utterance rest 
On mortal lips, ‘I am not proud’ — not proud! 
Albeit in my flesh God sent his Son, 

Albeit over Him my head is bowed, 

As others bow before Him, still my heart 
Bows lower than their knees! As centuries 
That roll, in visions, your futurities 
My grave athwart! 

Whose mumurs seem to reach me while I keep 
Watch o’er this sleep! 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


77 


Say of me as the Heavenly said, ‘ Thou art 
The blessedest of women!' blessedest, 

Not holiest, not noblest; no high name, 

Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a shame, 
When I sit meek in heaven I 
For me, for me — 

I often wandered forth, more child than maiden, 

Among the lonely hills of Galilee, 

Whose summits looked heaven-laden! 

Listening to silentness, that seemed to be 
God's voice — so soft, yet strong — so fain to press 
Upon my heart, as Heaven did on the height, 

And waken up its shadows by a light, 

And show its vileness by a holiness; 

Then I knelt down, as silent as the night, 

Too self-renounced for fears; 

Raising my small face to the boundless blue, 

Whose stars did mix and tremble in my tears! 

God heard them, falling often — with his dew." 

As illustrations of her deep maternal feelings and 
solicitude, see Mary beside Joseph, fleeing from the bloody 
sword of Herod, through the desert sands, trembling, 
with her precious treasure folded to her bosom, bearing it 
away to Egypt, from the impending storm — see her, as 
she finds her child in the temple, among the doctors, after 
days of anxious search and painful suspense. Her deep 
feelings of solicitude gush forth in the gentle remon¬ 
strance— “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? 
Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing ?” 

See her again before the cross of her son. “The 
sword,” which Simeon predicted, “pierces through her 
soul.” 


78 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


A Grecian artist, who sought to represent the grief of 
Agamemnon at the death of his daughter, Iphigenia, 
gained the praises of all antiquity, by simply drawing a 
veil over the face of the agonized parent. Thus has 
sacred history veiled the grief of Mary at the cross. Let 
no sacrilegious hand attempt to lift that veil from the 
sorrowing mother. That mother bowed before the cross 
with a crushing sorrow, and yet, with a mother’s love and 
bereavement, were doubtless mingled the deep devotion 
of the Christian, who beholds in the meek sufferer, her 
Saviour and Lord, as well as her son. 

The following eloquent passage from an English writer 
expresses, as we conceive, the true moral attitude of Mary, 
in her claims to the affectionate veneration of the Christian 
world. 

“A Papist may offer extravagant and blasphemous 
homage to the Virgin—we will not join in such—we would 
as soon render it to Moses, to Abraham, and Paul, or to 
any of the worthies who signalized their faith, and be¬ 
queathed such a rich legacy to the church. The Roman 
Catholics hold, that Mary was free from all sin, thus 
making her own birth as mysterious as that of her Son,— 
whereas we hold, that in nothing was Mary distinguished 
from other women, but in superior sanctity and stronger 
faith. But if we cannot go with the Papist, we can yet 
honour the Virgin; we can single her out of a throng of 
those, whose history might put to shame our deteriorated 
piety, and hold her up as worthy of a chief place in our 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 79 

esteem. Beautiful meekness and lively faith command 
the admiration of the disciples of Christ. It might have 
been expected that the individual selected for the rare 
honor of giving birth to the Messiah would exhibit all 
those graces which are of chief worth. Such expectation 
is abundantly answered, by the account, brief as it is, of 
the annunciation of the Virgin. There is no record of 
Scripture from which we may gather fuller indications of 
the character of all which is most noble in intrepidity, 
blended with all that is most graceful in humility ; in 
which the firmness of the martyr is combined with the 
timidity of the recluse; the boldness which can brave the 
frowns of the world, with the sensitiveness which can 
shun a smile — the faith that counts nothing impossible 
•with God, with the gentleness which cannot meet the 
slightest difficulty, except it has strength imparted.” * 

It is in this attitude we would view Mary — not as an 
object of idolatrous homage, but as a saint of pre-eminent 
moral beauty, and specially as the mother of Jesus. And 
it is in these historic glimpses of Mary — her childlike 
trust in God, her serene and heavenly piety, flowing from 
habits of self-communion and spiritual introspection, com¬ 
bined with a pure and sanctified maternal feeling, watching 
with holy devotion the Christ-child — it is in these poten¬ 
tial, yet beautiful elements of religious character, that we 
present Mary, as the true ideal of a Christian mother. 

In humble imitation of Mary, the light of her home, 


* Melville. 


80 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


the guardian of her Holy Child, is opened up the noblest 
sphere of 'woman. Here, by an influence genial, but 
mighty, may the mothers of Israel act upon the social 
problems of our times, and execute, by all gentle and 
confiding graces, and spiritual loveliness, their holy 
mission to the church and the world. 

Let us linger for a moment upon this most sacred and 
touching relation of the household — 


THE MOTHER AND THE CHILD. 

There are few hearts so incrusted by wordliness or in¬ 
durated by sin, as to feel no gentle thrill responsive to 
these words, so dear to memory, so bright to hope. 

Mother! the sweetest name to memory — symbol of the 
Divine tenderness; inspiring us with a love that we never 
blush to confess, and a veneration deep and permanent 
as life. How the nameless tokens of that earliest love 
weave themselves through all the brightness, through all 
the darkness, of our after life ! Is there anything earthly 
so potential in its moulding and formative power upon the 
unfolding child, as a sanctified mother’s love ? Thousands 
who have been strong in trials and temptations, and pure 
amidst the seductions of sin, can trace back the sacred 
virtue of that hour, to some sweet memory of childhood, 
some calm moment, when they knelt beside a mother, and 
from gentle looks of love and simple words of prayer, 
they first learned piety at home. 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


81 


And the other word child !—childhood and children ! Is 
there a parent who has not in some way felt the power of 
these words, touching “the finer issues” of his being? 
Have not many of us felt our first great sorrow, and the 
breaking up of the spiritual deep within us by the couch 
of a dying child! Clasping the little cold hand, we have 
understood as never before the reality of death, and 
through the gloom that gathered over the infant cradle, 
caught sudden glimpses of the heavenly home. Surely in 
some way we have all received a benediction from these 
little ones. 

The general relations of the child to the household 
have been considered in the preceding chapter: we desire 
now to direct attention to the more special and influential 
relation of the mother to the child. 

TIIE MATERNAL RELATIQN. 

This topic has been discussed so often and so thoroughly, 
that it has been well-nigh exhausted; and there is little 
left, either of novelty or importance, to justify more than 
a brief allusion to the practical suggestions of the subject. 

1. The importance of this relation is at once obvious, 
from the fact, that the mother presides at the fountain of 
being, and gives direction to those first ideas, first 
emotions, and first unfolding of the faculties, which in 
their full development, are sufficient to bless or curse a 
world. It is for her, with her quick maternal intuitions, 


82 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


to detect the ideal human being that is enfolded in the 
infant, and then to bring it out, and finally to invest it 
with positive life. 

It is according to the order of nature, that the power 
to love should be developed before the power to think. 
All things with us begin with a feeling — which gradually 
enlarges to an idea — and then takes the form of action. 
And hence the early awakening of the affections is more 
important than mental training. 

It is a sad thing to want in childhood, maternal endear¬ 
ments and caresses. And it has been justly remarked, 
that the cheeks which affection does not touch, which no 
mother kisses, have always a sad look that nothing can 
conceal. It is more fatal to neglect the heart than the 
head. 

Now the mother wakens earliest in the child the senti¬ 
ment of love. Her bosom is its first paradise. Her embrace 
first unlocks the heart and opens its mysterious depths. 
To her is given its first smile. Her tones lull it to repose, 
and mingle with its dreams—with its being. The mother’s 
love with its gentle and countless ministrations, wakens a 
responsive love in the child. And this early bond of love 
is rarely if ever broken. In the wanderings of after-years 
—wanderings, it may be, in the dark ways of sin, this tie 
clings around his spirit, drawing him back to the memories 
of childhood. Through years of sin, it may be, he sees 
that face of tenderness and love, which bent over the 


T II E HOLY FAMILY. 


83 


cradle of childhood, and thoughts of his mother touch 
the hardened prodigal to tears. 

There is a touching illustration of the power of maternal 
love, in that case of a mother and her idiot child, with 
which many of you may be familiar. He was the son of 
a poor widow in the north of England. Utterly helpless 
and dependent, “he did not appear to be alive to anger 
or self-defence.” But there was one ray left to guide 
him, one ligament of life to which he clung. He trusted 
in the love of his mother. This was his consolation and 
his safeguard — to this he looked in all his perplexity and 
fear. “ His whole occupation v as he sat upon the ground, 
was in swinging backwards and forwards,” singing, “in a 
low, pathetic voice,” an unmeaning strain. Thus day by 
day he sung his strange ditty, and clung to his mother’s 
presence, living on, vacant of thought, aimless in action. 
“ One day,” says the narrator, “the poor woman and her 
idiot boy were missed from the market-place, and the 
charity of some of the neighbors induced them to visit 
her hovel. They found her dead on her sorry couch, and 
the boy sitting beside her, holding her hands, swinging, 
and singing his pitiful lay more sorrowfully than ever he 
had done before. He could not speak, but only utter a 
brutish gabble. Sometimes, however, he looked as if he 
comprehended something of what was said.” But he 
knew that he had met with a loss; for “ when the neigh¬ 
bors spoke to him, he looked up with a tear in his eye, 
clasped the cold hand more tenderly, and sung in a softer 


* 


84 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


and sadder key.” “ ‘ Poor wretch !’ said they, 6 what shall 
we do with him V At that moment he resumed his chant, 
and lifting two handsful of dust from the floor, sprinkled 
it over his head, and broke with a wild, clear, heart¬ 
piercing pathos,” into his monotonous and mournful song! 

The only ray of light that lingered in that dark and 
chastic mind, was a mother’s love. What a holy trust is 
that of mothers! What a kingly power their love, to 
touch and control the springs of the new-born mind! 

2. j From this fact , we at once see , how absolute the 
mother’s power over the mind and heart of the child. She 
possesses the true power to educate her child, to draw out 
all the powers of his nature and unfold them in harmony. 
“ She penetrates into his very soul, and moves it to her 
guidance by a beautiful law of attraction. There grows 
up imperceptibly beneath her moulding sympathy a 
spiritual and everlasting fabric. Her precepts do not lie 
in his mind like extraneous facts; he has imbibed them 
like nutriment, and they have become assimilated with his 
whole character. Thus she docs a work which mere in¬ 
tellectual or didactic instruction cannot accomplish, be¬ 
cause she has the assistance of the affections—she weaves 
the warp of truth into the woof of love.” 

This fact is in itself sufficient to show the potential 
influence of the maternal relation. The mother watches 
by the earliest springs of thought, and moulds their 
channels, and wields their courses — she wakens earliest in 
the child the sentiment of love, and thus moulds the 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


85 


heart and gives direction to the first budding of the im¬ 
mortal mind. It is this peculiarity in the maternal re¬ 
lation, that invests the mother with a power and respon¬ 
sibility which transcend all human estimate. She comes 
in contact with the infant spirit, when most plastic and 
ductile, before its nebulous thoughts and opening affections 
and veering will, have crystallized into character; and, 
hence her influence is inextricably interwoven with its 
destiny. In this view it has been justly said, that the 
mother fore-ordains the destiny of her child. Almost any 
number of facts might be adduced, confirmative of this 
aspect of maternal influence: but a few quotations must 
suffice. 

The celebrated Cuvier, “ from the extreme feebleness 
of his childhood, came almost constantly under the care 
of his mother. The sweetness of this intercourse dwelt 
upon his memory throughout his whole life. ,, She fos¬ 
tered in him that ardent desire for knowledge which was 
so strong a trait in his character. The same fact has 
made as familiar and glorious as the history of her son, 
the name of “ Martha, the mother of Washington.” “ Out 
of sixty-nine monarchs who have worn the crown of 
France,” says M. Martin, “ only three have loved the 
people; and, remarkable circumstance, all three were 
brought up by their mothers.” “I shall never forget,” 
said Kant, speaking of his mother, “ that it is she who 
caused to fructify the good which is in my soul.” “ The 
8 


86 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


future destiny of a child,” said he who has been called 
the Man of Destiny, “is always the work of its mother.” 

That we may realize the true import of this influence, 
and the momentous responsibility which it involves, let us 
turn for a moment from the mother to 

THE CHILD. 

“Mother! learnrightly to estimate the priceless value of a little 
child. For in that estimate, will be awakened a consciousness of 
responsibility/’ 

There is on the brow of infancy the seal of immortality, 
which should inspire us with something higher than re¬ 
spect, something holier than parental admiration. An 
artist once said, he could never paint the face of a child, 
for it reminded him so much of heaven. 

Augustine said, “Adam, though one, was all men.” In 
him, says one commenting upon-this sentiment of Augus¬ 
tine, was seminally contained the history of the world. 
So, in the little child, seminally exist the elements of the 
adult man; it is the folio of a man in a single letter. And 
children are the budding of the world’s harvest, the 
fountain of her issues, the stepping-stone of her edifice. 

Do not look upon your children merely as flowers, 
blossoms, dewdrops. “ Flowers ! they are the flowers of 
the invisible world, indestructible, self-perpetuating flowers. 
Blossoms ! they are the blossoms of another world, whose 
fruitage is angels and archangels. Or dewdrops ! they 
are dewdrops that have their source, ^not on earth, to be 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 87 

exhaled by a flash of sunshine, but among the everlasting 
fountains of mercy and love.” 

Just think what a child is — this being thus fresh from 
the unknown realm, a bud enfolding the boundless possi¬ 
bilities of humanity — and you cannot fail to recognize 
the intrinsic claims of that little child. It has an immortal 
destiny. You see the first gleam of intelligence in its 
infantile face, which will shine when the sun is dark. You 
see in that little body an undying spirit, susceptible of 
unlimited expansion, a subject of God’s moral kingdom, 
a creature on probation for the destiny of hell or heaven, 
a being destined to unmeasured heights of glory, or 
unfathomed depths of wretchedness and despair ! 

Mother, it is from you that child receives the first 
touch, the first secret impulse, in the line of its moral, 
stupendous destiny ! You hold it at first in your arms, a 
mere passive thing, and it opens into conscious life, under 
your soul, streaming into its ears and eyes. A little 
further on, and you begin to stir its little heart with the 
sentiment of love, your smile is reflected from its sunny 
face, and your own love is echoed back from its beating 
heart. Then, there is the dawn of conscious intelligence, 
and the moulding and formative process is fairly begun. 
Your w T ords find a soil in its impressible nature; your 
example will be reflected in its life, and your very life is 
going .down perpetually into the child. How solemn and 
responsible is the trust committed to your care! 

The mother is to unfold that priceless germ, and guide 


88 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


that infant immortal in the way to Jesus and to heaven. 
How solemn and responsible the trust! How fraught 
with everlasting issues! Seek for wisdom from above. 
Pray 

“ God ! who gavest 
Into my guiding hand this wanderer, 

To lead her through a world whose darkling paths 
I tread with steps so faltering, leave not me 
To bring her to the gates of Heaven alone.” 

To illustrate this point, we will take you to Hebron, 
among the hills of Judea, and introduce you into another 

HOME-SCENE. 

“ Childhood shows the man, 

As morning shows the day.” — Milton. 

“ What manner of child shall this be?” 

There is a light and joy in the home of Zachariah and 
Elizabeth, unknown and unfelt before. What a rapturous 
joy gushes up within those aged parents, as they fold to 
their bosom their first-born child! Their fondest hopes 
are fulfilled in the advent of that little child, like a flower 
in winter, to cheer them with its late and delicate beauty. 
The shadows of life’s evening had been slowly darkening 
the walls of their home, but now they smiled with an 
unwonted light; and the stillness which had settled over 
them, was broken by the sweet sounds of childhood. 

When the people heard of all the wonders that sur¬ 
rounded the infant John, they exclaimed : “ What manner 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


89 


of child shall this be ? ” How the question must have 
thrilled the hearts of the parents ! They had some general 
idea of his great mission, but much of the future was veiled 
from their vision. Elizabeth knew not that the gentle form 
which she cradled in her arms, would one day lie in a dark 
and loathsome dungeon; that the beautiful head that pressed 
her bosom would be severed from its body, and brought 
all ghastly into the festive hall of princely revelry. Such 
a revelation of the future would have shaded the visions 
of that joyous mother. 

And who, as a parent, can look upon the little one, 
without this question spontaneously rising up in the mind, 
“What manner of child shall this be ?” In that frail and 
delicate form is enfolded the germ of an immortal mind. 
And how vivid the sense of responsibility that on us, as 
parents, to a great degree, will depend the destiny of that 
child! Can the mother, with all the gushing tenderness 
of a new-born joy, as her quickened thoughts go out from 
that infant cradle, to roam through eternity, be otherwise 
than conscious of a responsibility she never felt before ? 

“ I have wept 

With gladness, at the gift of this fair child! 

« But, oh God! 

Thou know'st how heavily my heart at times 

Bears its sweet burden.” 

How thrilling the thought, that the young spirit, which 
clings to her so confidingly, shall receive from her so many 
elements of its weal or woe ! That, in an important sense, 

8 * 


90 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


she foreordains the destiny of the child. Mother, put 
back the hair from the brow of that bright-faced boy! 
That countenance, as yet undisturbed by cares of guilt, 
is serene as heaven. How does your heart yearn with 
love, as you breathe upon it the benedictions of God! 
In time, he will go forth to grapple with the world, and his 
spirit will be tried in the solemn issues of life. Can you 
think that ever those features will become bloated, those 
eyes grow fiendish with dark and ungoverned passion ? 
That those lips, now wreathed with beauty, shall breathe 
the fumes of drunkenness, and that sweet and musical 
voice shall break out in oaths and blasphemies ? With 
such possibilities, what indefinable solicitudes tremble in 
the parent’s heart, with the question, “ What manner of 
child shall this be ? ” 

Remember how much of that child’s destiny lies within 
your control! 0, ponder your solemn charge! Earth 

has no greater trust than what is devolved upon you, in 
the education of that little child. 

Do you ask, what shall I do ? Just what Zachariah 
and Elizabeth did: bring up the c^hild in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord. Instil God’s truth into its open¬ 
ing mind, by a holy example and believing prayer; liv(f 
into it a divine life, and commit it to the guardian care and 
saving power of Jesus, the good shepherd. 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


91 


APPEAL TO MOTHERS. 

With these aspects of the maternal relations, its forma¬ 
tive and controlling influence, and its momentous responsi¬ 
bility, we turn again to the picture as in the beginning of 
this chapter, and ask all mothers to behold Mary, watching 
beside the holy child. Mary, with that child in her 
bosom, bearing it away from the destructive sword of 
Herod—from the storm that was gathering over the infant 
cradles of Bethlehem. 

Herod still rages. His spirit is still the spirit of the 
world—of the world’s passions and its policy. The child 
still needs protection and guardianship. It is still im¬ 
perilled by sin, and its multiform snares and temptations; 
and who, if not the mother, shall watch over it, and 
shield it from the destroyer. 

But for this sacred office, you need the piety of Mary 
— her faith in God — her deep devotion and holy enthu¬ 
siasm,— that like her you may keep your watch of love, 
and then Herod will wait in vain to destroy. 

OUR COUNTRY. 

In a critical period of the French history, Napoleon 
said to Madame Campan, “ The old systems of education 
are worth nothing. What is wanted for the proper train¬ 
ing of young persons in France ?” With emphasis, she 
replied, “ Mothers !” 


92 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


What is most needed in the present history of our na¬ 
tion? Mothers! Our country wants virtuous citizens, and 
honest, magnanimous, God-fearing statesmen and rulers. 
The churches want ministers and missionaries, with a 
Christ-like spirit, and a Paul-like zeal. And, they must 
come from Christian homes, where mothers, like Mary, 
keep watch. 0, ye mothers! could ye lift up the veil,, 
and catch a glimpse of the momentous Future, and realize 
that in the secresy of home, you are determining, through 
your children, what that future shall be, your soul would 
he fired with a patriotism, which would lay the child upon 
the altar of his country, and a Christian devotion that 
would make him an offering on the altar of his God. Yes; 
to mothers, God has committed, in a measure, the destiny 
of the world. 

And when we reflect that in this land there are three 
million of mothers , with three hundred thousand infants, 
to he moulded hy a mother’s plastic hand and quenchless 
love — the prayer rises spontaneously from our trembling 
heart to heaven, that God would bless the homes and 
mothers of our land. For herein lies the great element 
of power and of hope for our country. The church and 
home must go together, and unite our nation under the 
empire of Christ, as under the empire of civil law. And 
it is a matter of hope, as we look out over this vast country, 
that the church and home are advancing together from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific shore. The farmer of Oregon, 
the miner of California, are not to he beyond the pale of 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


03 


Christian civilization. Even they shall hear the chimes 
that tell of the nativity of the Saviour — they shall find 
in their homes, rude cabins though they may be, pleasant 
faces, whose womanly grace and childish confidence shall 
reveal a light kindled of old by the Blessed Mother, and 
nurtured for ever by her Holy Child. 


THE MOTHER'S REWARD. 

The appeal is made to every mother, with a personal 
emphasis, and the promise of special results. 

Richly that Christ-child repaid his mother’s watching. 
And so will every child thus nurtured, repay the pious 
mother, for her vigils of love, teachings of wisdom and 
prayers of faith. 

The permanency of early impressions, indicate both the 
responsibility and hopefulness of your work. 

CHATEAUBRIAND AND HIS MOTHER. 

The conversion of this great French author is a striking 
illustration of the maternal power and mission. We give 
the account of his recall to duty, from a wild and reckless 
career of folly, in his own graceful and touching language: 

“ My mother, after having been thrown, at seventy-two 
years of age, into a dungeon where she was an eye-witness 
of the destruction of some of her children, expired at last 
upon a pallet, to which her misfortunes had reduced her. 


94 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


The remembrance of my errors diffused great bitterness 
over her last days. In her dying moments, she charged 
one of my sisters to call me back to that religion in which 
I had been brought up. My sister, faithful to the solemn 
trust, communicated to me the last request of my mother. 
When her letter reached me, beyond the seas, far distant 
from my native country, my sister was no more — she had 
died in consequence of the rigors of her imprisonment. 
These two voices issuing from the tomb — this death, 
which seemed as the interpreter of death, struck me with 
irresistible force, and I became a Christian. I did not , I 
allow , yield to great supernatural illuminations , but my 
conviction of the truth of Christianity sprung from the 
heart . 1 wept , and I believed." . 

Take another illustration. 

“ When I was a little child,” said a good old man, “my 
mother used to bid me kneel down beside her, and place 
her hand upon my head, while she prayed. Ere I was 
old enough to know her worth, she died, and I was left 
too much to my own guidance. Like others, I was inclined 
to evil passions, but often felt myself checked, and, as it 
were, drawn back by a soft hand upon my head. When a 
young man, I travelled in foreign lands, and was exposed 
to many temptations; but when I would have yielded, 
that same hand was upon my head , and I was saved. I 
seemed to feel its pressure as in the days of my happy 
infancy, and sometimes there came with it a voice in my 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


95 


heart, a voice that must be obeyed, — ‘ 0, do not this 
wickedness, my son, nor sin against God.’ ” 

Through all changes of place and time, those early im¬ 
pressions remained uneffaced from the memory of the 
heart — 

“ In foreign lands I travelled wide, 

My pulse was bounding high, 

Vice spread her meshes by my side, 

And pleasure lured my eye : — 

Yet still that hand , so soft and cold, 

Maintained its mystic sway, 

As when, amid my curls of gold, 

With gentle force it lay. 

And with it breathed a voice of care, 

As from the lowly sod, 

“ My son — my only one — beware ! 

Nor sin against thy God.” 

Ye think, perchance, that age hath stole 
My kindly warmth away, 

And dimmed the tablet of the soul; — 

Yet when, with lordly sway, 

This brow the plumed helm displayed, 

That guides the warrior throng, 

Or beauty’s thrilling fingers strayed 
These many locks among,— 

That hallowed touch was ne’er forgot! — 

And now, though time hath set 
His frosty seal upon my lot, 

These temples feel it yet. 

There are thousands whose childhood was blessed with 
such a mother’s love and pious care, who can repeat from 


9(5 


TIIE HOLY FAMILY. 


their very hearts and hopes, the touching sentiment of 
the last verse: — 

And if I e’er in heaven appear, 

A mother’s holy prayer, 

A mother’s hand, and gentle tear, 

That pointed to a Savior dear, 

Have led the wanderer there. 

We look upon this relation of the mother to the child 
almost with awe. What a holy charge is theirs ! With 
what a queenly power their love can rule the fountain of 
the new-horn mind! Mothers! be faithful to this holy, 
this momentous trust. Like Mary, look to God for grace 
and wisdom to fulfil your mission. He who heard the 
prayer of Hagar in the wilderness, will listen to your 
earnest cries for help. He who guided the destinies of 
her child, will watch and conduct yours. You may not 
lead out an Ishmael upon the scene of life. You may not 
rear a Washington, or leave your name — 

“Wrought out in marble, with a nation’s tears 
Of deathless gratitude; yet may you raise 
A monument above the stars; a soul 
Led by your teachings and your prayers to God.” 

There is a picture, which, in some points, illustrates 
your position. “ It is of a mother, who, with her infant 
child, has fallen from the deck of a vessel, at sea. The 
wild waves dash around her, and exhaust her strength. 
Yet still she clings to her infant, and holds him up, above 
the hungry billows, shouting—‘Save my child!’ The 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


97 


waves grow wilder; thick mists swim before her eyes ; the 
sea now flings her close to the ship, now madly dashes her 
back. Still, not of herself she thinks, hut of him whom 
she holds aloft, crying—■* Save my child !’ And lo ! from 
that vessel a strong arm is reached down, and they are 
saved. Mother ! amid the sweeping temptations of life, in 
the vortex of the world, bear up in the arms of love, and 
with the prayer of faith, that child of thine, and a 
Redeeming Hand shall be reached down from heaven.” 

And 0, the reward of a faithful Christian mother on 
earth and in heaven ! Taken up to dwell together before 
the throne of God and the Lamb, that child of prayer and 
faith will sparkle there as a pearl-drop in your crown of 
life and glory! 

DEATH-SCENE. 

There was a shaded chamber, 

A silent, watching band, 

On a low couch, a suffering child, 

Who grasped the mother’s hand. 

She had told her faith in Jesus, 

Her simple prayer was said, 

And now, that darkened vale she trod, 

Which leadeth to the dead. 

Red fever scorched her bosom, 

Frost chilled the vital flame, 

And her sweet, meek brow was troubled, 

As anguish smote her frame. 

Yet, 'mid the gasp and struggle, 

With shuddering lips, she cried, 

“ Oh, mother — dearest mother, 

Bury me by your side." 

9 


98 


THE HOLY FAMILY. 


Look! look! the thin lip quivers, 

The blue eyes open wide, 

And what a soft, low, whisper steals,— 
“Bury me by your side.” 

And did the spirit falter 
Upon its upward track, 

To strew this never-dying flower 
In tender token back ? 

Even at the gate of Heaven, 

Whence songs of angels flow, 
Remembered it the cradle hymn 
That soothed its infant woe? 

Oh , mother’s love ! thus strong to lure 
A seraph from on high; 

Be faithful to thy trust — and bear 
Thy nurslings to the sky. 


CjrapUr Cjjirfr. 

CANA; OR, THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 

“ There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee .... and both Jesus 
was called and his disciples to the marriage.”— John. 

“ Marriage is a figure and an earnest of holier things unseen, 

And reverence well becometh the symbol of dignity and glory.” 

Tupper. 

This bridal-^pene in Cana of Galilee lives in Christian 
memory, as the only marriage on sacred record at which 
Jesus was present. Among the thousands of nuptial 
scenes that have taken place — often amid the most 
imposing pageantry of royal grandeur — this one , in a 
sequestered hamlet of Palestine, stands out pre-eminent 
in history, as consecrated by the presence of Christ. His 
presence at the Cana festival was a reconsecration of this 
memorial of Paradise. It was a recognition of marriage 
as the normal relation of social life — the basis of the 
domestic constitution — a relation instituted by God, and 
sanctified by Christ. 

This home-scene at Cana suggests and illustrates this 
fundamental moral relation in its Christian aspects. For 
though the relation itself is coeval with humanity, it has 
degenerated, under the influence of sin ; and Christianity 
alone restores it to its primeval harmony and significance, 

( 99 ) 


100 


CANA; OR, 


investing it with a holy dignity — an almost sacramental 
character. 

In the discussion of this normal relation of the home- 
life, we shall advert to the original institution in Paradise, 
its design and object, and then, passing on to this nuptial 
scene at Cana, seek to unfold its obvious suggestions of 
the influence of Christianity upon this institution. How 
it has restored and ennobled the marriage relation, making 
it, as in Eden, a bond of sweet and sacred unity, invested 

with immortal affections and eternal sanctions ! 

* 

m 

EARTH’S FIRST BRIDAL. 

“ And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be 
alone ; I •will make him an help-meet for him.” — Moses. 

“ To be man’s tender mate was woman born, 

And in obeying nature, she best serves 
The purposes of Heaven.” — Schiller. 

Man had just come from the creative hands, in the 
perfection of humanity, with his noble form and majestic 
brow, and soul enstamped with the moral image of God, 
clothed with honor and glory. Around that first man was 
the beauty of Eden; the very air was laden with the fra¬ 
grance of flowers, and the song of birds. But he was 
alone. There was no human face into which he could look, 
and see the reflection of his own — there was no heart to 
beat responsive to his new-born joys ; no human being to 
whom he could whisper the grateful wonder of his soul, 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


101 


and say, “ How beautiful is this our home, how good our 
Father who made it thus !” 

Adam was not complete without Eve. There was a 
vague feeling of want, as if he were but half a man, an 
undefined consciousness that something was wanting to 
consummate his blessedness— 

‘‘In vain the viewless seraph lingering there, 

At starry midnight, charmed the silent air; 

In vain the wild bird carolled on the steep, 

To hail the sun, slow wheeling from the deep. 

Still slowly passed the melancholy day, 

And still the stranger wist not where to stray; 

The world was sad — the garden was a wild, 

And man the hermit sighed, till woman smiled.” 

“ It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him 
an help-meet for him.” 

“And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, 
and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up 
the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord 
God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought 
her unto the man.” 

Why the Almighty adopted this particular process in 
the creation of woman, we are not told. A young lady 
once asked a distinguished surgeon, “Why woman was 
made from the rib of man, in preference to any other 
bone ? ” He gave the following gallant answer : “ She 

was not taken from the head of man, lest she should rule 
over him; nor from his feet, lest he should trample upon 
her; but she was taken from his side, that she might be 
9 * 


102 


CANA; OR, 


his equal; from under his arm, that he might protect her; 
> from near his heart, that he might love and cherish her.” 

The particular method of woman’s creation had a mys¬ 
tical meaning, symbolical of the marriage relation—“ She 
shall be called woman (manness), because she was taken 
out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and 
his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall 
he one flesh.” 

Thus ; what seems to the sneering caviller a childish fable, 
is to the thoughtful student a beautiful symbol of marriage, 
and of the true relation of the sexes to each other. 

We have no account of the personal appearance of our 
primeval mother; but we know that she was the outwrought 
divine ideal of a 'perfect woman. A true artist’s ideal 
of female form and expression is beautiful, as we see it 
developed in the Venus of Titian, and the Greek Slave of 
Powers. Eve existed as a thought, an ideal, in the divine 
mind before she was made. And how glorious must have 
been the embodiment of God’s ideal of woman ! With what 
ecstatic wonder the first man must have gazed on the first 
woman, radiant with transcendent loveliness, who was to 
be his companion, his bosom-friend, his wife! 

Milton’s description of Eve, we believe to be as true as 
it is beautiful: 

“Her heavenly form 
Angelic, hut more soft and feminine 

Her graceful innocence. 

Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, 

In every gesture dignity and love.” 



THE BRIDAL- SCENE. 103 

Equally true is his representation of Adam, in the first 
ecstatic outburst of his feelings, exclaiming — 

“ 0, fairest of creation, last and best 
Of all God’s works.” 

In this record of Moses, we have the divine origin of 
marriage; “ we see the first human pair united in mar¬ 
riage bonds — earth's first bridal .” 

Thus divine in its origin, and beautiful in its associations, 
is the marriage institution. We trace its credentials to 
this Mosaic record of the first human pair. Its affecting 
ceremonial was the crowning act of creation. Its officiating 
High Priest was God himself. The altar was some fragrant 
bower, amid the primeval Paradise. Attending angels were 
the witnesses; and the first epithalamium was the song of 
the morning stars. No other institution can boast of a 
higher or holier inauguration, or show such an antiquity. 
The records of it are the first syllables of written history, 
and the faintest stammerings of tradition. The first 
breathing of its spirit was the simplicity of the happy 
pair in Eden, in their first and si.nless love. It began 
while the earliest beams of the world’s twilight were 
shooting up into a sky, with nameless stars, and dawning 
over an unpeopled world. 

This primeval and divine ordination of marriage, as 
recorded by Moses, was recognised and endorsed by Jesus, 
the great Teacher, who declared it to be an appointment 


104 


CANA; OR, 


of God, forecast in the plan of creation, and founded there¬ 
fore in the constitution of nature. 

“ Have ye not read (saith our Lord)* that He who made 
them [man and wife] at the beginning, made them [a] male 
and [a] female; [as intending to prevent both polygamy 
and divorce] and said [as the formal authentication of the 
great law of marriage already inserted in the constitution 
of human nature], Lor this cause [or, on account of enter¬ 
ing into the married state] shall a man leave his father 
and mother [the nearest relation he had previously sus¬ 
tained], and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall he 
one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more twain, hut one 
flesh.” A union this so intimate, that every other is to 
yield to it; so sacred, that the Divine proclamation con¬ 
cerning it is, “ What God hath joined together let no man 
put asunderso indissoluble, that nothing is to separate 
it hut that which separates the soul from the body; so 
spiritual in its ultimate relations and aims, as to find its 
antitype only in that divine union which, as the fruit of 
redemption, is to survive every other, and to attain its 
consummation in heaven.f 

This primeval law of marriage, asserted by Moses, and 
recognised by Christ, is a great and beautiful law of 
nature. “It is that principle of duality which runs 
through the universe, dividing every perfect whole into 

* Matthew, xix. 4-6, referring to Genesis, ii. 24. 

f Patriarchy, by John Harris, D. D., p. 87. 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


105 


two parts, assigning to each its own necessary work, and 
rendering this very diversity essential to harmony. It is 
the duality of day and night, of the leaf and the flower, 
of the hand and the heart. By virtue of this law, 
humanity is two-fold, and is perfect only in the man and 
the woman; each of these having a peculiar sphere.” 

This duality — in the original institution of marriage— 
is a divine protest against polygamy — which is utterly 
subversive of the great and beneficent ends of the domestic 
economy, and destructive of all social organization. This 
primeval enactment of monogamy is further confirmed by 
the providential fact, of the substantial equality of the 
numbers of both sexes born in all countries, and amidst 
every diversity of circumstances. It is manifestly the 
divine idea, as Paul expresses it, that “ every man should 
have his own wife, and every woman her own husband.” 
And all history shows, that an infringement of this law, 
has ever been disastrous to the dearest interests of society. 
So that there is a beautiful harmony, between the will of 
God expressed in the constitution of nature, and the 
appointment of the marriage institution. 

The moral reasons for this appointment of the marriage 
relation, are distinctly asserted by the prophet. Malachi 
(chap. ii. 14, 15). In one of his bold remonstrances 
against the sins of his times, he exclaims, “ The Lord 
hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, 
against -whom thou hast dealt treacherously; yet is she 
thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. And did 


106 


CANA; OR, 


he not make one ? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit. 
And wherefore one ? That he might seek a godly seed t” 
Here the last of the Old Testament prophets plainly 
asserts that God laid the foundation of the marriage 
institution in the original creation of a single pair, and 
affirms that the beneficent design of the arrangement was 
the advancement of virtue and religion by means of the 
domestic economy. 

The same truth was expressed in the beautiful old chant 
of the Jewish Temple-service, and has been echoed by the 
church in some form ever since; “God setteth the solitary 
in families.” 

It must be obvious at once, that without the institution 
of marriage, the family could have had no existence—and 
consequently there could have been no domestic ties, no 
kindred affinities, no social order and affections, no 
civilization, and no progress. 

“Marriage,” says Jeremy Taylor, “is the mother o'f 
the world, and preserves kingdoms and fills cities and 
churches and heaven itself. Celibate, like the fly in the 
heart of an apple, dwells in a perpetual sweetness, but 
sits alone, and is confined and dies in singularity; but 
marriage, like the useful bee, builds a house, and gathers 
sweetness from every flower, and labors, and unites into 
societies and republics, and sends out colonies, and keeps 
order, and exercises many virtues, and promotes the 
interest of mankind, and is that state of good things to 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


107 


which God hath designed the present constitution of the 
world.” 

We present the following eloquent passage from Dr. 
Hague, incorporating a quotation from Robert Hall, both 
illustrating in a forcible manner, the aspect of marriage, 
now under consideration. 

“ Where is the man, gifted with ordinary means of in¬ 
formation, who has not seen that, wheresoever the sanctions 
of the marriage institution are disregarded, home life has 
no permanent attractions; that the private virtues of 
every class are deprived of all genial aliment; that there 
domestic education cannot exist, and the evil passions of 
childhood are left to luxuriate in fearful wildness; that 
there the kindly affections of our nature are often blasted 
in the bud ; that habits of industry and of self-control are 
never formed, and the moral dignity of woman — that 
great conservative element of the social state — can 
scarcely be named but to awaken the ruthless spirit of 
mockery and satire ? Entirely truthful to nature and to 
history are the words of Robert Hall, in his celebrated 
discourse on Modern Infidelity: “Marriage institutions 
are the great civilizers of the world, and essential to the 
welfare of mankind. They are sources of tenderness as 
well as guardians of peace. Without the permanent union 
of sexes there can be no permanent union of families; the 
dissolution of nuptial ties involves the dissolution of 
domestic society. But domestic society is the seminary 
of social affections, the cradle of sensibility, where the 


108 


CANA; OR, 


first elements are acquired of that tenderness and humanity 
which cement mankind together; and were they entirely 
extinguished, the whole fabric of social institutions would 
be dissolved.” What a signal realization of this truth 
was presented to the gaze of all mankind by the most 
refined country of Europe, during that “ Reign of Terror” 
which covered the whole realm with a pall of funereal 
gloom! Although the French Revolution sprang, by a 
natural law of reaction, from the atrocities of that kingly 
and priestly despotism that had preceded it, nevertheless, 
it became a raging whirlwind, which the Genius of Infi¬ 
delity could not rule; and when we pore over the horrors 
of that stormy time, when our hearts sicken in view of 
that chaotic ruin into which France was plunged, let us 
remember that this state of things was heralded by the 
granting of twenty thousand divorces in the city of Paris 
in a single year, and celebrated by the public adoration 
of a beautiful, but vile and shameless woman, who was 
enthroned as the “ Goddess of Reason,” and borne through 
the streets in a splendid chariot, amid the honors of a 
grand triumphal procession. Facts like these have a 
terrible significance, showing, as they do, to what an 
extent the moral sentiment had become corrupted through¬ 
out all classes of a cultivated community, and showing, 
too, that wheresoever the marriage institution — the chief 
support of domestic virtue — becomes subverted, the state 
itself will reel from its position, and involve all the 
interests of society in its overthrow. 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


109 


With this aspect of marriage, its divine ordination, its 
multiform bearings upon all the springs of social life and 
religious culture and advancement, we are not surprised 
to find such frequent testimonials in the Scriptures, to the 
dignity and inviolable sanctity of this relation. We do 
not wonder that the Bible in its spirit and penal enact¬ 
ments, so guards the married relation, and shields the 
home-circle — making the family pre-eminent among the 
chosen instrumentalities for the accomplishment of the 
divine purposes of mercy to our fallen world. 

Without the domestic constitution and the household 
nurture and influence, what would become of childhood, 
in its guileless innocence and helplessness ? What of those 
home-restraints and bonds, clasping the great social circle ? 
“Relax and sever the household bond; melt this golden 
chain, and scatter it on the broad and undefined surface 
of a loose and licentious socialism; and where are the 
hopes, either of the church or the world ?” 

Let us resist every tendency to disparage the sacredness 
of the marriage relation, to release the bonds of domestic 
life, or to impair our sense, not only of their divine 
authority, hut of their important influential relation to 
social organization, and the very existence of the church, 
in all her manifold blessings. 

Let us cherish these sacred institutions—“ The God of 
love has made choice of the domestic relations as the 
depositories of his grace, and there laid the deep founda- 
10 


110 


CANA; OR, 


tions of that spiritual temple, from which the symbol of 
his presence and glory is never more to depart.” 

“ Thou art the nurse of virtue. In thine arms 
She smiles, appearing, as in truth she is, 

Heaven-born, and destined to the skies again.” 


MARRIAGE IN CANA. 

“And Jesus was called to the marriage.” — John. 

“ It is well that Jesus was at that feast. The ages since have 
remembered his presence, and his sacred name, heard still at the 
marriage, deepens its memory and consecrates its joy.” 

“ There are smiles and tears in that gathering band, 

Where the heart is pledged with the trembling hand. 

What trying thoughts in the bosom swell, 

As the bride bids parents and home farewell! 

Kneel down by the side of the tearful fair, 

And strengthen the perilous hour with prayer.” 

There is something beautiful and significant in the fact, 
that the Saviour began his miracles at a wedding, rather 
than at the grave of Lazarus, or the gate of Nain. In a 
life so brief, yet wondrous, every step of which seemed to 
be pre-determined, and taken, for the illustration of his 
great mission of love, this commencement of his public 
ministry at a marriage, was not accidental. 

“ This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of 
Galilee, and manifested forth his glory.” 

Apart from all that is local and temporary, this miracle, 
says Trench, may be taken as the sign and symbol of all 
which Christ is evermore doing in the world, ennobling all 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


Ill 


that he touches, making saints out of sinners, angels out 
of men, and in the end heaven out of earth, a new para¬ 
dise of God out of the old wilderness of the world.* 

“ We need not wonder to find the Lord of life at that 
festival; for he came to sanctify all life—its times of joy, 
as its times of sorrow: and all experience tells us, that it 
is times of gladness, such as this was now, which espe¬ 
cially need such a sanctifying power, such a presence of 
the Lord. In times of sorrow, the sense of God’s presence 
comes more naturally out: in these it is in danger to be 
forgotten. He was there, and by his presence there 
' struck the key-note to the whole future tenor of his 
ministry. He should not be as another Baptist, to with¬ 
draw himself from the common paths of men, a preacher 
in the wilderness: but his should be a harder and a higher 
task, to mingle with and purify the common life of men, 
to witness for and bring out the glory which was hidden 
in its every relation. And it is not, perhaps, without its 
significance, that this should have been especially a 
marriage , which he adorned and beautified with his 
presence and first miracle. ”f 

In this home-scene, Christ assumes an attitude of be¬ 
nignity towards the family relation, and his first miracle, 
as it has been said, dawned in the form of a nuptial 
benediction upon a young couple beginning their conjugal 
life. This institution, among the most delightful reminis¬ 
cences of Paradise, received a reconsecration at this 


* Trench. 


f Ibid. 


112 


CANA; OR, 


joyous festival. It was a beautiful inauguration of his 
public ministry, in its social aspects. 

The Saviour meets the human race, whom he came to 
bless, first of all at a nuptial ceremony, and gave the first 
manifestation of his glory amidst its innocent festivities. 
The miracle, apart from its immediate object, was a sym¬ 
bolic representation of the great spiritual process by which 
he would transform what is earthly into the spiritual — what 
is human into the divine. And how natural he should 
begin his work at a wedding, and that the first outgleam- 
ing of his divine glory should hallow a bridal festivity! 
It was a formal consecration of the union that founds tho 
family — the very basis of society, and all existing organi¬ 
zations. It was, moreover, a practical rebuke of tho 
asceticism that scorns the social affections, “and would 
make of life a ghostly austerity, just as if man were hea¬ 
venly by being unearthly.!’ The posture of Christ at this 
nuptial scene is indicative of the very genius and spirit of 
his mission, in its relations to social life. He came not to 
destroy, but to save. He came not as the communist, 
to disorganize the social elements; nor as the gloomy 
ascetic, to frown upon the innocent joys of life. But to 
consecrate the domestic constitution; for in the bosom 
of this primal union lay the germ of the great genealo¬ 
gical tree of the human race. To infuse a spirit of purity 
into the hidden recesses of social existence, and thus to 
sanctify the very heart of society; to hallow human life, 
and sweeten human joy, by commingling with all life that 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


113 


richest ingredient of human happiness, a sense of God’s 
approving love, a consciousness of the divine benediction; 
so that we may realize at home and abroad, and every¬ 
where, that wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and 
all her paths are paths of peace. 

With these Christian aspects of marriage, founded in 
Eden, and consecrated anew at Cana, we take this nuptial 
home-scene as suggestive of the following topics, embracing 
everything essential to a practical view of the whole sub¬ 
ject, viz: — The Preliminaries of Marriage — the Cere¬ 
monial — and the Wedded Home-life. 


I. 

STEPS TO THE MARRIAGE ALTAR. 

“ Youth longeth for a kindred spirit, and yearneth for a heart, that 
can commune with his own ; 

He meditateth night and day, doting on the image of his fancy.” 

Tupper. 

Few events of life enfold such germs of good or evil, 
for time and eternity, as marriage. There is no personal 
act, save one, more solemn, or which more deeply involves 
human happiness and destiny. And yet it is obvious, from 
the current tone of conversation on this topic, and the 
accustomed frivolity with which it is viewed, that the 
serious aspect of the subject is rarely considered. How 
sportively and inconsiderately, often, are its relations 
assumed ! from what varied impulses of passion or selfish¬ 
ness, or even from some whim of fancy ! Sometimes, from 
10 * 


114 


CAN a; or, 


mercenary motives, when the best heart-affections are bar¬ 
tered for gold. Sometimes for show and pageantry, when 
pride is joined to vanity, and the lips utter vows of 
affection and fidelity, which the heart can never ratify. 
Sometimes from a mere sentimental love, that is as tran¬ 
sient as youth, and superficial as beauty. Who does not 
know, that hundreds assume this most sacred relation of 
life from motives thus sordid and frivolous ? And yet 
those pledges are coined into imperishable vows. They 
bind, not for a passing companionship, but for the solemn 
issues of life. Not merely for the sunshine of the nuptial 
festivity, but for life — for long years, it may be, of sha¬ 
dow and storm — seasons of trial and adversities, and the 
unknown alternations of the future—until death breaks the 
tie that “man may not put asunder.” 

It is obvious, that whatever may be the prevalent in¬ 
considerateness upon this subject, there is no act of life 
which the young should contemplate with more calm and 
prayerful consideration than marriage. A union which 
involves the whole future of earthly life—imparting to it 
the purest joy, or imposing a lasting sorrow, from which 
there is no refuge but the grave — yea, affecting in many 
cases the destiny of the soul beyond the grave, reflecting 
its light or projecting its shadow along the boundless 
future —r- should be seriously considered. 

Let those who are contemplating such a union, look 
well and devoutly to the steps which conduct to the 
marriage altar. “A pernicious sentimentalism has gar- 


115 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 

nished the vestibule of marriage with flowers, and thrown 
it open in a vista of amber light.” Let them, therefore, 
look forward to this union with the clear vision of a 
thoughtful mind, and ask for direction from above, for, 
“a prudent wife is from the Lord,”—and, “Whoso findeth 
a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the 
Lord.” 

Let there he a calm, deliberative view of this union, 
and the object of jour choice, before the reason is swayed 
and the heart becomes delirious with passionate attach¬ 
ment. It is then too late for consideration. Passion is 
strong in a youthful heart; it is often delirious—mad ! It 
blinds the judgment, bewilders the imagination, and capti¬ 
vates the reason. Before the heart is enthralled by some 
selected object, is the time for the exercise of a dispas¬ 
sionate judgment. And much of the infelicity in the 
wedded life is attributable to precipitancy and a want of 
considerateness, before assuming the duties of this sacred 
relation. “Alas! many an enamored pair have courted 
in poetry, and after marriage lived in prose.” 

Ponder well the momentous import of this life-relation. 
And with a view of giving direction to your thoughts, 
allow me to offer some suggestions, both 'precautionary 
and advisory . 

And our first suggestions are precautionary and relate to 


116 


CANA; OE, 


YOUTHFUL LOYE AND COUETSHIP. 

“ There is a fragrant blossom that maketh glad the garden of the 
heart.”. 

What strange and indefinable emotions thrill the heart, 
in the first glow and consciousness of youthful love! 
How it flushes the whole future with its golden light; and, 
however that light may be tinged and refracted by earthly 
exhalations, it gradually and insensibly forms itself into 
an aureola around some elect countenance which guides 
to the choice for life. 

We forbear an elaborate analysis of this ecstatic feeling, 
lest we should be betrayed into mere sentimentalism on 
the one hand, or metaphysical abstraction on the other. 

It is a sentiment more than filial or parental love, more 
than brotherhood, more than the holiest friendship — a 
love for which we have no adequate expression, which at 
once fascinates by natural affinities and controls our whole 
being as with the sanctity and power of religion. But if 
it eludes all analysis and baffles all forms of expression, it 
is a sentiment which has thrilled in every heart that 
deserves the name, and is therefore known by universal 
experience; and thus, what is too subtle for words, is 
adequately defined in our consciousness. For, 

“In joyous youth, what soul hath never known, 

Thought, feeling, taste, harmonious to its own? 

* * * * * 

Who hath not own’d, with rapture-smitten frame, 

The power of grace, the magic of a name?” 



THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 117 

Yes, all have felt, or now feel, this ecstacy of early 
love — “this sweet idolatry, enslaving all the soul.” 

From the very novelty of this feeling, as it first glows 
in the youthful mind, bewildering the other faculties, as 
well as from romantic notions derived from works of fiction, 
there is great danger of taking the initial steps to the 
altar from mere spontaneity, or the impulse of youthful 
passion. 

Our first suggestion upon this delicate point, is one of 
precaution. 

1. Beware of entertaining false notions of this early 
love, or mere ideal dreams of married life. 

“ Take heed that what charmeth thee is real, nor springeth of thine 
imagination; 

And suffer not trifles to win thy love; for a wife is thine unto 
death.” 

Many of the young indulge in the most nonsensical 
notions concerning love. Their ideas, derived from the 
current fiction, or from their own prurient fancies, lead 
them to discard reason and deliberation, as having nothing 
to do in love affairs. It is all a matter of fancy, and sen¬ 
timentalism, and spontaneity — in which judgment must be 
abjured, and with which parental counsel, and even a 
mother’s tears* must not interfere. These ideas are 
romantic and fallacious, and often precipitate the subjects 
into a union of utter wretchedness, from which there is no 
refuge but the grave. Be assured, that pure affection is 
founded upon esteem, and is therefore under the control 


118 


CANA; OR 


of reason. It is not a mere sentiment, or ideality, much 
less frenzy of passion, the meanness of desire — 

“For Love is no more such, than seraphs’ hymns are discord; 

And such is no more love, than Etna’s breath is summer.” 

And to follow the blind impulse of passion is to be lured, 
by the winning song of the syren, into a dream-land of 
folly; and to awake from the delirious dream, only to mourn, 
disconsolate, amid the ruin of your perished hopes. Listen 
not to the voice of passion. Heed the suggestions of your 
reason. Keep the precious love of your young heart, until 
you find an object worthy of it; and if no such object be 
found, then let it remain in your own heart, reserved for 
heaven alone. 

“In passion’s flame 

Hearts melt, but melt like ice, soon harder froze. 

True love strikes root in reason.” 

2. Equally fallacious are the expectations of marriage 
derived from flippant conversation, sentimental tales, and 
youthful fancies. Those whose ideas are formed in such 
schools, look to the married life through a rose-colored 
atmosphere. In the vision of their youthful fancy, it 
seems like a bright May-day of unclouded felicity, where 
the golden years dance in bridal hours. 

“ Thus, in the desert’s dreary waste, 

By magic power produced in haste. 

As old romances say, 

Castles and groves, and music sweet, 

The senses of the trav’ler cheat, 

And stop him in his way. 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


119 


Bat while he gazes with surprise, 

The charm dissolves, the vision dies: 

; Twas but enchanted ground.” 

Thus with time dissolve these ideal visions of marriage, 
like the airy fabric of the fancy, and leave the youthful 
dreamer to bitter disappointment, and years of lingering 
dullness and infelicity. 

This leads me to offer some suggestions— 

ADVISORY. 

“ Seek a good wife of thy God, for she is the best gift of his 
providence.” 

Learn first of all to view marriage in the sober aspect 
of duty, with a mind wisely forecasting its contingencies, 
and a heart consecrated to all its obligations. And let 
the thought, that the prospective union is for life, check 
the ardor of youthful impulse, and sober as well as chasten 
the wild dreams of the fancy. Let it be viewed as com¬ 
passing the whole future, and affecting by a necessary 
implication, every phase of earthly happiness. And let 
every initiatory step be taken in the calm light of reason, 
and under the guidance and sanctions of religion. 

“ Marriage should in every instance be formed upon 
the basis of mutual attachment.” 

Rightly viewed, it is not merely a union of persons, but 
of kindred minds and hearts. Its physical aspects, how¬ 
ever essential, derive their sanctity from the spiritual 
affinity existing between the parties. So that the relation 


120 CANA; OR, 

assumed ■without this mutual affection is defilement and 
sin, and must end in mutual repulsion. 

1. Let those, therefore, who contemplate this union, he 
certified that they are prompted by genuine affection. 
Let there be no taint in this affection, — no mercenary 
traffic in the sanctuary of the heart, more sacred than the 
temple-courts. Sad, indeed, will be the experience of 
those who play the Judas, and barter their hearts for 
pieces of silver. 

“Such marriage unions as calculating parents some¬ 
times plan from mercenary motives, have been the bane 
and curse of many a family for successive generations. 
The springs of social life are poisoned by the moral 
malaria that hangs murkily around the abodes of those 
who are the victims of such heartless schemes. For, 
although equality of rank, fortune, and position, may have 
its advantages, these are all lighter than the small dust 
of the balance when weighed against those qualities of 
character which form the basis of a real and permanent 
union.”* 

Beware also, of forming an attachment simply on the 
ground of physical beauty. This would be falling in love 
with a doll or a picture. We cannot be wholly indifferent 
to the charms of personal beauty. Nor ought we to be 
unaffected by external attractions. For if there be any 
thing in the exterior which excites repulsion, the banns 
are interdicted by the voice of nature. 

* Dr. Hague. 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


121 


“ Affect not to despise beauty; no one is freed from its dominion : 

But regard it not as a pearl of price; — it is fleeting as the bow 
in the clouds.” 

True beauty is something more than a pretty face, 
elegance of form, or grace of manners. It has not only 
a form but a spirit—a beauty we must know, to appreciate 
— a beauty which gleams from a thoughtful mind, and a 
pure and loving heart; and which bespeaks for the owner 
a soul . This will impart beauty to the homeliest face. 
It was the valorous soul of the swarthy Moor, that capti¬ 
vated the gentle and confiding Desdemona; who apologized 
for her love, by saying: — 

“ I saw Othello's visage in his mind.” 

This beauty of mind and heart, never fades—“ possessing 
charms beyond the fascinating Egyptian, for which Antony 
paid the bauble of the world — a beauty like the rising of 
his own Italian suns, always enchanting, never the same.” 

True affection can be permanent, only, when inspired 
by the enduring elements of moral beauty — and an 
attachment thus formed is likely to survive the charms of 
novelty, and the spoliating touch of time. Whereas an 
attachment, based merely on exterior grace of form and 
beauty, is little more than fancy or passion’s fine phrenzy, 
and will soon pass away, leaving the unhappy victims to a 
wedded life, without affectional unity; — leaving them to 
the bitter experience, that they have taken a gaudy but 
scentless flower to their bosom, with no spiritual fragrance 
to gladden the heart or beautify the home. 

11 


122 


CANA; OR, 


2. Let me urge with emphasis , that true-love is funda¬ 
mental to the marriage relation. If the parties antici¬ 
pating such a union, are not conscious of a pure, intense, 
mutual attachment, then, for them, “it is not good to 
marry.” 

Without this natural affinity — this mutual love — it is 
a perilous experiment to assume the marriage vow. For 
nothing can be more tormenting than to he held in re¬ 
pulsive contiguity by a legal bond, where there is no affec- 
tional sympathy—subject to a forced companionship, and 
the constant collision of characters that have no mutual 
adjustment. 

There are many prudential considerations that are not 
to be overlooked, such as relate to a reasonable prospect 
of competency, an approximate similarity in tastes, rank, 
and age; but first of all, be assured that you truly love 
the object to whom you are about to pledge your heart 
and hand. Be careful, that you are prompted, not by a 
mere sentimental fancy, or the blindness of passion, but 
by genuine affection: an affection begun in friendship. 
For friendship and love must unite to form a happy 
married union; and by friendship we mean an affection 
arising from pure sympathy of spirit. True affection 
begins in esteem, founded on certain moral excellencies in 
the person; this esteem warms into genial and kindred 
friendship, which finally culminates into love. Thus, 
“ friendship founded in natural, unforced sympathy, and 
growing by the waters of immortality, becomes the central 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


123 


support, around which, as around a rod of heaven’s gold, 
th flowers and fruits of earth’s purest affection, gather 
in graceful clusters. 

Be assured that nothing can compensate for the want 
of this natural affinity, this genial love in wedded life. 
You may have a home of palatial grandeur, adorned with 
artistic beauty, and surrounded with the loveliest of natural 
scenery — hut without love all will be but a dreary waste, 
a burnished misery, a grievous mockery, and in the utter 
desperation of your wedded and life-long misery, your 
sad heart will be heard to sigh, u Is it for these glittering 
baubles I have bartered away my heart, myself, my 
earthly happiness ?” But alas, for this folly and its con¬ 
sequent wretchedness, there is no remedy and no refuge 
but the grave. By all the instinctive recoil of your nature 
from such a prospect, and by all the yearnings of the heart 
for genial sympathy and a happy home, peaceful in the 
sunlight of affection, do not enter the married state unless 
drawn by the solicitations of a pure and virtuous love — a 
love that will foster the tender sensibilities of the heart, 
and secure a companionship that becomes more beautiful 
as the dreams of youth pass away; a companionship made 
genial by prosperity and strengthened by suffering; a 
companionship that will sweeten the coarsest fare, and 
cheer the humblest home—suffusing life’s evening twilight 
with the joy that gladdened the bridal morn. 

3. Finally, do not exclude religious considerations in 
forming this most sacred compact. A Christian should 


124 


CANA; OR, 


marry “only in the Lord.” Both reason and Scripture 
protest against the union of a believer with an unbeliever. 
For, “ how can two walk together except they be agreed ?” 
No considerate person should hazard a union where there 
is a want of affinity and sympathy, upon a point so vital 
and rudimental to the very existence of the household. 
How can such a union meet the great moral reason as¬ 
signed in the Bible for the marriage relation, viz :—“That 
he might seek a godly seed!” How can the great work 
of home education be conducted with success, and the 
children be trained in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord, without religious unity and co-operation on the part 
of the parents ? 

The injunction to “marry only in the Lord,” is not 
merely advisory, but a statutory provision, and binds the 
conscience with all the obligations and sanctions of a 
divine law. For a Christian, then, to marry an unbeliever, 
is a direct violation of the law of God. How can a 
Christian invoke the divine blessing upon such a union ? 
And how can believers peril their happiness in this world, 
and their salvation in the next, by associating with them¬ 
selves, in the nearest of all earthly relations, those who, 
in place of facilitating their progress in the divine life, 
must, to say the least, trammel their religious efforts, and 
obstruct their heaven-ward course. With all solemnity 
and earnestness, would we urge upon Christians to “ marry 
only in the Lord.” 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 125 

“ Let her be a child of God, that she bring with her a blessing to 
thy house— 

A blessing above riches, «and leading contentment in its train; 

Let her be an heir of heaven; so shall she help thee on thy way : 
For those who are one in faith, fight double-handed against evil.” 


The following poetical picture from Pollok, is a beautiful 
representation of youthful love in its purity and intensity, 
seeking heaven’s guidance and benediction: — 


Such was the night, so lovely, still, serene, 
When, by a hermit thorn that on the hill 
Had seen a hundred flowery ages pass 
A damsel kneeled to offer up her prayer, 

Her prayer nightly offered, nightly heard. 

This ancient thorn had been the meeting place 
Of love, before his country’s voice had called 
The ardent youth to fields of honor far 
Beyond the wave: and hither now repaired, 
Nightly, the maid, by God’s all-seeing eye 
Seen only, while she sought this boon alone, 

“ Her lover’s safety, and his quick return.” 

In holy, humble attitude she kneeled, 

And to her bosom, fair as moonbeam, pressed 
One hand, the other lifted up to heaven. 

Her eye, upturned, bright as the star of morn, 
As violet meek, excessive ardor streamed, 
Wafting away her earnest heart to God. 

Her voice, scarce uttered, soft as Zephyr sighs 
On morning lily’s cheek, though soft and low, 
Yet heard in heaven, heard at the mercy-seat. 
A tear-drop wandered on her lovely face; 

It was a tear of faith and holy fear, 

Pure as the drops that hang at dawning-time, 
On yonder willows by the stream of life. 

11 * 


126 


CANA; OR, 


On her the Moon looked steadfastly; the Stars, 

That circle nightly round the eternal Throne, 

Glanced down, well pleased; and Everlasting Love 
Gave gracious audience to her prayer sincere. 

Oh, had her lover seen her thus alone, 

Thus holy, wrestling thus, and all for him! 

Nor did he not: for oft-times Providence, 

With unexpected joy the fervent prayer 
Of faith surprised. Returned from long delay, 

With glory crowned of righteous actions won, 

The sacred thorn, to memory dear, first sought 
The youth, and found it at the happy hour, 

Just when the damsel kneeled herself to pray. 

Wrapped in devotion, pleading with her God, 

She saw him not, heard not his foot approach. 

All holy images seemed too impure 
To emblem her he saw. A seraph kneeled, 

Beseeching for his ward, before the Throne, 

Seemed fittest, pleased him best. Sweet was the thought! 
But sweeter still the kind remembrance came, 

That she was flesh and blood, formed for himself, 

The plighted partner of his future life. 

And as they met, embraced, and sat, embowered, 

In woody chambers of the starry night, 

Spirits of love about them ministered, 

And God, approving, blessed the holy joy! 



THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


127 


II. 

THE BRIDAL CEREMONIAL. 

“ Joy, serious and sublime, 

Such as doth nerve the energies of prayer, 

Should swell the bosom, when a maiden's hand 
Filled with life's dewy flowerets, girdeth on 
That harness which the ministry of death 
Alone unlooseth, but whose fearful power 
May stamp the sentence of Eternity.” 

Mrs. Sigourney. 

“ It is not possible for the hearts of husband and wife to blend 
permanently on any lower level than the altar of God.” 

Mountford. 

This is usually, as it ought to he, a time of joy and 
social congratulation. It is the jubilee of the affections, 
the consummation of fondest hopes, the crowning of the 
pledged union with the seal and sanctity of religion. As 
at Cana, Jesus should be an invited guest at every wed¬ 
ding; that his presence may hallow and beautify the 
matrimonial vow — chasten and sanctify connubial love. 
“It is the worst clandestine marriage,” said old Thomas 
Fuller, “ when God is not invited to it; wherefore, before¬ 
hand beg his gracious assistance.” Marriage is not merely 
a civil contract, but a divine institution, and should be rati¬ 
fied by religious as well as legal sanctions. It may be legal 
to be married by a magistrate, but such a marriage is with¬ 
out the divine seal, and lacks, in our view, the most sacred 
ratification. As a spiritual, a divine ordinance — “the 
symbol of dignity and glory” — the sacred Union should 

• 


128 


CANA; OR, 


be consummated by the ceremonial and sanction of religion, 
and consecrated by prayer. 

“ Let the day of hopes fulfilled he blest by many prayers . . . 
And at eventide kneel ye together, that your joy be not un¬ 
hallowed.” 

In no act of human life should one more earnestly seek 
the guidance and blessing of God. Never should the 
duty — 'with the promise, “ Commit thy way unto Him, 
and He will direct thy paths” — be more intensely realized 
than at the marriage altar. In no transaction should we 
more earnestly solicit the Saviour’s presence and blessing, 
than when consummating a union which so deeply affects 
the whole life. What responsibilities, what thrilling 
destinies, are crowded in that moment, which sets the 
inviolable seal of heaven upon the pledged union, and 
makes it one for life ! 0 when, if not then, should we 

invoke the presence of Jesus! Where, if not at that 
altar, should hearts tremulous with emotions of undefined 
hopes and fears, look, but to Him w r hose glory dawned in 
a nuptial benediction upon the married couple in Cana! 

This bridal-scene encourages you to invite the Saviour 
to your marriage. Make Him one of your guests. Do 
not consummate a transaction so momentous without 
making Christ your Friend and Counsellor. Send to 
Him by special prayer, and, with your selected and 
future companion, say to Him, “ If Thy presence go not 
with us, carry us not up hence.” 

And be assured, if earnestly solicited, the Saviour will 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


129 


come, as of old to Cana, and by His presence beautify 
and bless your bridal hour. It was his special interest in 
the marriage institution that directed his footsteps to that 
sequestered hamlet in Galilee. His presence at that 
humble wedding, and the outflashing of His divine glory 
in the miracle, were designed to honor and consecrate the 
union which founds the family, and is instrumentally con¬ 
nected with every social and moral good. 

He, who, as Creator, gave a companion to man in 
Paradise, and ordained the marriage relation, renewed its 
consecration by his presence and miracle at Cana of 
Galilee. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, 
and therefore, feels the same interest in your marriage; 
and if invited, will be present, not personally as at 
Cana, but spiritually and influentially, to hallow your 
union, sanctify your joy, and leave his benediction upon 
your hearts — to perpetuate the love, and fulfil the hopes 
of your bridal-day. And, 

“ Angels that are round you shall be glad, those loving ministers of 
mercy, 

And the richest blessings of your God, shall be poured on his 
favoured children.” 

III. 

THE NEW HOME. 

“ 0 happy lot, and hallowed, even as the joy of angels, 

Where the golden chain of godliness is entwined with the roses of 
love.” 

If it was important to have Jesus at the wedding, it is 
equally so to retain his presence in the newly-formed 


130 


CANA; OR, 


home. Those who sought his blessing at the marriage- 
altar, should seek to extend the benediction to the young 
household. Without the presence of the Saviour, no 
family can maintain the true conjugal life, viewed in its 
original constitution — grounded in the favor of God, 
“ embracing all the members of the family in its expand¬ 
ing circle, and furnishing an exhaustless spring of joy, in 
the unselfish aspirations of each for the other, towards 
the Source of all happiness. Even the ardor of youthful 
love, that gives the marriage-pledge, cannot retain its 
beauty, its purity, or its power, unless it is ever relumed 
and vivified, by Him who is the light and life of the 
world. The faith of heart in heart will languish and die 
without faith in God. 

Among the very first things to be done in the beginning 
of your domestic life, is to erect the altar of prayer, and 
together invoke the presence and blessing of Jesus, to 
consecrate your new home. 

“Bride and bridegroom, pilgrims of life, henceforth to travel 
together, 

In this the beginning of your journey, neglect not the favor of 
heaven.” 

As the family altar and other phases of the religious 
home will be considered in another chapter, we shall now 
advert merely to the relative duties and ruling sentiment 
of the conjugal life. 

The Christian idea of the conjugal relation is that 
given by Paul, (Ephes. v. 22-33,) in his representation of 


THE BRIDAL-SCEN E. 


131 


the union, as a type or symbol of the intimate and 
endearing relation subsisting between Christ and his 
Church. This gives to the relation a peculiar honor and 
sanctity — investing it with something of a sacramental 
mystery and significance: — 

“ Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as 
unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, 
even as Christ is the head of the church; 

“ Husbands , love your wives, even as Christ also loved 
the Church, and gave himself for it.” 

In this comprehensive analogy, we have both the nature 
of the relation and the mutual duties which it imposes. 
The husband is the head of the wife, her lord and ruler. 
The wife is subordinated to the husband, as the Church 
to the Lord. But in her case it is not a servile, irre¬ 
sponsible subordination. The duty of mutual love, 
precludes all abuse and degradation of such a relation of 
headship and corresponding subordination. It will preclude 
all unreasonable or despotic exactions on the one hand — 
and every feeling of servility and conscious inferiority on 
the other. In accordance with this relation, the Apostle, 
in the conclusion of the chapter, gives a comprehensive 
summary of the relative duties of the conjugal union. 

“Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular, so 
love his wife even as himself: and the wife see that she 
reverence her husband.” 

1, The marriage union is fundamentally one of Love. 
And only by mutual love can there be any fulfilment of 


132 


CANA; OR 


its obligations. Though love, for obvious reasons, is es¬ 
pecially enjoined on the husband, it belongs equally to 
the wife. For, unless it be mutual, as already suggested, 
there can be no conjugal happiness. Assuming that the 
parties were prompted by love in the formation of their 
wedded union, every thing should be done to deepen and 
confirm the affection which first breathed in the words of 
their espousals, and then uttered the imperishable vows at 
the altar. 

Where the marriage is one of affection, the most critical 
period is in the beginning of the wedded life. “ The 
mutual affection,” says Dr. Spring, “ of a young married 
pair, if not seriously disturbed in the earlier years of its 
existence, is not often disturbed when that affection is 
matured by time, and cemented by the same habits and 
interests.” 

It is therefore, of the utmost moment, in these earlier 
years, to guard against every thing that might disturb the 
delicate harmony and finely-toned sympathies of wedded 
love, and by every suitable means to foster the youthful 
attachment, until it is matured and consolidated, and they 
can walk together through earth’s sunshine and storm, 
loved and loving one another. 

WEDDED LOVE. 

There is more or less of romance and sentimentalism 
in all youthful affection. To their joyous vision the future 
seems an Elysian land, through which they will always 


TI1E BRIDAL-SCENE. 


133 


"walk amid flowers, or repose in bowers of peace, and 
listen to the music of the birds of paradise. This is a 
natural and it may be an innocent illusion. And yet the 
future will come to most with overshadowing clouds, with 
stern trials, and multiform cares, and common-place 
duties. And then, as the youthful dreamers waken to the 
realities of married life, and discover that the angel of 
their youthful love, though beautiful, is a fallen angel, and 
the paradise of their early dreams is paradise lost; they 
will go out from their ideal Eden, into the realities of life, 
with something of the sadness of the primeval pair, as 
described by Milton: — 

“ Some natural tears they dropp’d, hut wiped them soon. 
They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, 
Through Eden took their solitary way.” 

But if there be true affection, it will not only survive 
this disappointment of early hopes, but acquire greater 
depth and intensity by the vanishing away of all that was 
merely ideal and fanciful. And the very trials of life, by 
awakening their sympathies, and prompting to mutual 
kindness and ministries of love, will purify and strengthen 
the clasping bonds of affection, and, “ in one fate 

Their heart, their fortune, and their being blend.” 

We need hardly say, that in a union so intimate and 
life-long, revealing every phase of character and mood of 
temper, there will be need of this sanctified love, which is 
“ not easily provoked, which suffereth long, and is kind” 
12 


134 


CANA; OR, 


— which has power to invest the being loved with its own 
beauty, transforming blemishes into imaginary virtues. 
As the great Dramatist has it — 

“ My love doth so approve him, 

That even his stubborness, his checks, and frowns, 

Have grace and favor in them.” 

This love, purified and hallowed by religion, is the very 
life of marriage — the very bond of perfectness. It is the 
fragrant blossom, that will not only gladden the heart, but 
beautify the humblest home, with peace and harmony, and 
manifold ministries of kindness and charity. 

“Lasting and knowing not change, it walketh with truth and sin¬ 
cerity.” 

2. If this mutual love be cherished and maintained, all 
the other duties of the home-life will flow from it naturally 
and necessarily as the healthy tree puts forth the blos¬ 
soms and fruits of summer. 

And without entering into specialities, we comprehend the 
whole range of conjugal duties in the one word, Love — 
“ See that ye love one another, with a pure heart fervently. ” 
And to this end, cultivate mutual confidence and forbear¬ 
ance in all the relations and duties of the household. Be 
careful to maintain mutual good temper. Some one says, 
there are moods in matrimony, as well as in grammar; 
and the spirit of these moods is essentially connected with 
the happiness or misery of domestic life. Many overlook 
this. They do not consider how terser enters into daily 
life — how it permeates the whole household constitution — 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


135 


that it is in our homes and around our hearths — that 
it gives sweetness to the dinner of herbs, or turns the 
most sumptuous fare into the food of misery—that it 
gives peace and happiness to the peasant’s home, or 
turns palatial grandeur into a gilded mockery. 

When any of the variant moods of evil temper prevail 
in the household, they are destructive of peace and happi¬ 
ness. If there is violent temper, passionate, self-willed, 
intolerant; or the morose, revealing itself in haughty con¬ 
tempt, or in cold and silent indifference; or the revenge¬ 
ful, proud, sensitive, always generating anti-social and 
cruel dispositions; or the discontented, which nothing 
can please, and nothing satisfy, ever petulant and queru¬ 
lous ; or the capricious, fickle, and lawless, at one moment 
melting with pity and the next flushing with anger; — it 
is obvious that any one of these moods of evil temper, pre¬ 
vailing in the social relations, must disturb the peace and 
harmony of home. 

“Better,” says Solomon, “is a dinner of herbs, where 
love is, than a stalled ox, and hatred therewith.” Ah! 
yes, there is many a home where there is but little more 
than a dinner of herbs, which, genial and loving hearts, 
sweet and gentle dispositions, convert into more than a 
royal palace. And many a gorgeous mansion, that is only 
a glittering ice-cavern of fretfulness and discontent; halls 
of jangling discord, and the constant clashing of evil tem¬ 
pers, whilst a chill of mutual distrust and severance breathes 
through the sumptuous apartments, and a heartless show 


136 


CANA; OR, 


presides, like a robed skeleton, at the feast. Nowhere as 
in the family should we so guard against evil tempers, and 
seek, by divine grace, to heed the admonition of the 
apostle — “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and 
clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all 
malice. And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, 
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath 
forgiven you.” For as has been justly said, there is no 
happiness in life, there is no misery, like that growing out 
of the dispositions which consecrate or desecrate a home. 

3. Intimately associated with the affection and unity of 
the household, is attention to little things . 

“For slender joys, often repeated, fall as sunshine on the heart, 
And the deepest wretchedness of life is continuance of petty pains.” 

The social mechanism is most delicately attuned, and a 
word, a breath, or look, may jar the finely-toned sensi¬ 
bilities, and render discordant the music of home. Indeed, 
domestic broils and contentions, mostly originate in mere 
peccadillos. This seems to be the idea of Solomon, when 
he says, “ The beginning of strife is as when one letteth 
out water; therefore leave off contention, before it be 
meddled with.” This caution is specially important in 
the beginning of wedded life, for reasons already mentioned. 

Says Jeremy Taylor, “ Man and wife are equally con¬ 
cerned to avoid all offences of each other at the beginning 
of their conversation. Every little thing can blast an 
infant blossom, and the breath of the south can shake the 
little rings of the vine when first they begin to curl like 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


137 


the locks of a new-weaned boy: but when by age and 
consolidation they stiffen into the hardness of a stem, and 
have, by the warm embraces of the sun and the kisses of 
heaven, brought forth their clusters, they can endure the 
storms of the north, and the loud noises of a tempest, and 
yet never be broken.” 

The same precaution against trifles, as often leading to 
breaches in the household bonds, is beautifully expressed 
by the Irish poet:— 

A something light as air — a look, 

A word unkind or wrongly taken, 

The love that tempests never shook, 

A breath, a touch like this has shaken; 

And ruder winds will soon rush in 
To spread the breach that words begin; 

And eyes forget the gentle ray 
They wore in Hymen’s smiling day; 

And voices lose the tone that shed 
A tenderness round all they said; 

Till fast declining, one by one, 

The sweetnesses of love are gone; 

And hearts, so lately mingled, seem 
Like broken clouds, or like the stream 
That smiling left the mountain’s brow, 

As though its waters ne’er could sever, 

Yet ere it reach the plain below 
Breaks into floods, and parts for ever, 

Be careful, therefore, to avoid all irritating causes, and 
by mutual attentions and nameless kindnesses, seek to 
strengthen the bonds of affection, and make a Home ! A 
place, not merely to eat and sleep in — a mere refectory 
and dormitory, but a place to live. Seek to make it a 
12 * 


138 


CANA; OR, 


place of social joy and attraction, and thus counteract 
the fashionable tendency in our day to abandon the home, 
and seek pleasures abroad. It ought to be a place, not 
only of sober culture and wholesome discipline, but of 
recreative pleasure, and sparkling joy, and jubilant songs. 

“Why should we fear youth’s draught of joy, 

If pure, would sparkle less? 

Why should the cup the sooner cloy, 

Which God hath deigned to bless ? 

4. But no marriage relation can be essentially and 
permanently happy without the sanctifying influence of 
religion — or speaking with this pictured scene at Cana 
before us, without the presence and benediction of Jesus. 

“ For the triple nature of humanity must be bound by a triple 
chain, 

For soul and mind and body— Godliness, esteem, and affection.” 

The Gospel of Christ must pacify the heart, sweeten 
the temper, and hallow the affections, or the union cannot 
be truly felicitous. This will lead the wedded couple 
to a throne of grace, to enliven by prayer their religious 
sensibility, which is the very fulness and soul of conjugal 
love and friendship. This not only enjoins, but inspires 
mutual confidence, and matures those graces that belong 
to wedlock’s “ string of pearls.” This, by a divine 
chemistry, will convert the very cares and annoyances of 
life into means of moral improvement and mutual 
devotion. “ The pearl-oyster, by some mysterious secre- 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


139 


tion, converts the fretting grain of sand, that is forced 
within its shell, into a costly gem to adorn the neck of 
beauty.” So the Gospel converts the very trials and 
irritations of married life into those graces of the spirit, 
priceless pearls, to adorn the domestic union, and beautify 
their home with salvation. 

LAST GLANCE AT THE CANA FESTIVAL. 

“ Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and 
when men have well drunk, then that which is worse ; but thou hast 
kept the good wine until now.” 

These words of the governor of the feast, whilst they 
express literally a practice of festal economy, had a higher 
sense and profounder thought than he meant. The world 
does indeed give its “ good wine” first; but Christ reserves 
for his guests the good wine unto the last. It is indeed 
but the general principle, that by the very condition of 
our being, if things go right, a conclusion is better than a 
beginning. “Better,” says Solomon, “is the end of a 
thing than the beginning.” It must be so in life, or life 
is an awful calamity. It must be so in the marriage union, 
or that union will be a failure of the great end of marriage. 
According to Christ and Paul, the highest end of conjugal 
life is the sanctification and moral perfection of the 
character, to which the physical object must be subordinate 
and subservient. 

But how shall this great moral end be attained? By 
the presence of Christ in the household. 


140 


CANA; OR, 


THE MORAL END OF MARRIAGE. 

But will Christ deign to visit your humble abode? 
Look at this festival scene at Cana, and then read in the 
subsequent history of Christ, “ So Jesus came again into 
Cana, where he made the water wine.” We cannot suppose, 
that when he returned to Cana he failed to visit the home 
of the married couple who had invited him to their 
wedding, and whose nuptial vows he had sanctified by his 
presence. Thus Jesus, if honored at your wedding fes¬ 
tival, and his presence sought by prayer, will not disdain 
to visit your married home, and, as at Cana of old, will be 
nigh in every domestic trial to relieve your anxieties, and 
soothe your sorrows, consecrate your union, and bless 
your infant household. 

And in Christ you will be able to keep the unity of the 
spirit in the bond of peace, and the end will be better 
than the beginning. 

It is a great thing for two frail natures to maintain this 
moral and life-long unity. It is difficult to keep two harps 
in perfect harmony: how then shall two harps, each of a 
thousand strings, be kept in sweet unison through all life’s 
variant moods and jostling cares ?—Only by being one in 
Christ. Make Him your abiding guest, who came to open 
heavenly mansions into our earthly habitations. You 
need him to keep you in God and with one another. Let 
the atmosphere of the home have the fragrance of his 


THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


141 


heavenly spirit. Then will you grow in personal ex¬ 
cellence, mutual affinity, and spiritual assimilation, re¬ 
alizing a peace and happiness in the sacred union, of which 
you never dreamed in your youthful love. ' This assimila¬ 
tive growth in the true Christian marriage, is beautifully 
expressed in those exquisite lines of Tennyson : — 

Yet in the long years liker must they grow; 

The man be more of woman, she of man : 

He gain in sweetness and in moral height, 

Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; 

She mental breath, nor fail in childward care: 

More as the double-natured Poet each: 

Till at the last she set herself to man, 

Like perfect music unto noble words; 

And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time, 

Sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers, 
Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be, 

Self-reverent each and reverencing each, 

Distinct in individualities, 

But like each other even as those who love. 

Then comes the statelier Eden back to men : 

Thus will the last days of your marriage he better than 
the first. You will look back with mutual blessing to the 
hour of your first union, conscious that through all the 
vicissitudes of life you have endeavored to make each 
other better and happier; and He, who was present, and 
sanctified your marriage vows, will crown your union with 
the blessedness of those who “ are called to the marriage 
supper of the Lamb.” 


142 CANA; OR, THE BRIDAL-SCENE. 


“ Ever the richest, tenderest glow, 

Sets round the autumnal sun — 

But there sight fails; no heart may know 
The bliss when life is done. 

Such is thy banquet, dearest Lord; 

0 give us grace, to cast 
Our lot with thine, to trust thy word, 

And keep our best till last.” 


Cjjaptn /ourtjj. 

CORNELIUS OF C^SAREA; OR,THE FAMILY ALTAR. 

“ There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius. 

A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, who 
gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.” ^ 

“Around each pure, domestic shrine, 

Bright flowers of Eden bloom and twine; 

Our hearths are altars all.” 

This home-scene in Caesarea, in its material aspects, is 
one purely of the imagination, but, in its moral features, it 
is fully defined in our conceptions as a home of domestic 
piety. With the sketch of the sacred penman before us, 
we readily supply the lights and shadows which complete 
the moral picture. That it was a home of religious unity, 
kindly dispositions, and domestic worship, the outlines 
given by the sacred writer would authorize us to infer. 
But the central fact in this household, which imparts a 
beauty and sanctity to the whole domestic scene, and 
which claims our special attention in this chapter, is the 
Family Altar. We picture to our minds Cornelius as the 
father and priest of the family, gathering the household 
round the domestic altar for prayer and praise. And we 
therefore take this home-scene as suggestive, as well as 
illustrative of the special topic of family worship. As 

( 143 ) 



144 CORNELIUS OF cjesarea; 

preparatory to the main discussion, it may be well to 
glance at the religious character and position of Cornelius, 
as depicted in sacred history. 

Cornelius, by birth and education a Gentile, had pro¬ 
bably enjoyed the light of revealed religion as received 
and taught among the Jews. Discarding the idolatry of 
Paganism, and sincerely yearning for the true religion, he 
seems, with all his family, to have “ embraced the mono¬ 
theism of the Jews, and doubtless also their Messianic 
hopes.” From several incidents and allusions in the 
sacred narrative, it is evident that he was acquainted 
with the historical facts of Christianity. The glimpses he 
had of the true light, but increased his inward disquietude, 
and the yearning of his soul for clearer manifestations of 
that religion which could meet the felt necessities of his 
spiritual nature. 

The chapter which opens with a description of his per¬ 
sonal and domestic piety, unfolds the visions and instru¬ 
mental processes which resulted in his personal knowledge 
of the Saviour, and reception into the Christian Church 
by baptism. Cornelius and his household were the first 
fruits of the Gentiles, the first sheaves of that prospective 
harvest from the heathen world. 

The completeness of his religious character gives pecu¬ 
liar beauty to his domestic piety, and we therefore select 
this home-scene for the illustration and enforcement of 
family religion. 

The inspired historian, by a few truthful touches, has 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 145 

portrayed the religious character of Cornelius in its per¬ 
sonal and social aspects. 

“ A devout man, and one that feared God.” This is 
descriptive of his personal piety, as one who acknowledged 
and worshipped the true God, and practically obeyed the 
restraints of religion. So that Cornelius, according to 
Theophylact, though neither a Jew nor a Christian, lived 
the life of a good Christian. 

“ One that feared God with all his house” This indi¬ 
cates the domestic phase of his piety. His own religious 
sentiments and feelings were diffused throughout his entire 
household. Although not a descendant of Abraham, he 
imitated the example of that illustrious prototype of family 
religion, so highly commended by God : “ I know him, 

that he will command his children and his household after 
him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice 
and judgment.” “I Vho gave much alms to the people , 
and prayed to God always .” In this we see the com¬ 
pleteness and harmony of his character. His life was a 
practical illustration of love to God and love to man. His 
heart not only turns earthward with philanthropy, hut 
heavenward in the aspirations of devotion. We recognise 
in Cornelius the harmony, nay, the essential identity of 
religion and morality. We see in him “religion with its 
earthly and social phase, and morality with its axis turned 
heavenward.” His was not that ostentatious piety which 
pretends to lift up holy hands to God, but never stretches 
them out in works of practical philanthropy — “which is 
IB 


146 CORNELIUS OF CilSAREA; 

loud in profession, but poor in performance — which makes 
long prayers, but devours widows’ houses.” But a piety 
of faith and works — of devotion and beneficence — a piety 
in unconscious imitation of Him who came from the lonely 
conflict of the desert to pursue his mission of mercy and 
goodness, who came from the midnight prayer on the 
mountain to walk on and calm the troubled sea. 

Such was the piety of Cornelius — 

“The light of affection sunned his heart, the tear of the grateful 
bedewed his feet; 

He put his hand with constancy to good, and angels knew him as 
a brother.” 

This harmony and'completeness of religious character 
in Cornelius, give peculiar beauty and power to his example 
of domestic piety. For, unless the life in its spiritual tone 
and general expression be conformed to the principles and 
requirements of gospel morality, the mere formal routine 
of family worship, so far from proving a personal and 
social blessing, may only tend to foster self-deception, 
falsify religion in the face of the household, and scandalize 
Christianity in the eyes of the world. To secure the great 
end of domestic worship, there must be entire conformity 
to the will of God at home and abroad. He who conducts 
the household devotions, must say practically , “ As for me 
and my house, we will serve the Lord”— 

“ By actions, words, and tempers, show 
That I my heav’nly Master know, 

And serye with heart sincere,” 


OR, T1IE FAMILY ALTAR. 147 

With this preliminary reference to the personal and 
domestic piety of Cornelius, we take that phase of the 
home-scene in which he appears, with his household, in 
the attitude of worship. 

It may serve to give reality and vividness to this pic¬ 
tured household in Caesarea, to recall that scene of domestic 
worship in the “ Cotter’s Saturday Night,” in which the 
aged sire, after the evening meal, gathers the family round 
him, “ turns o’er wi’ patriarchal grace, the big ha’ Bible, 
ance his father’s pride” —then selects some sweet song of 
praise from the Psalms of David — 

“ And * Let us worship God ! 7 he says with solemn air . 77 

That scene has been in our minds from childhood, as a 
beautiful, living picture of domestic worship. It was no 
fancy sketch — no ideal picture of the past; but an exact 
transcript from real life, as Burns saw it in many a cot¬ 
tage among the pious peasantry of Scotland. It was, 
indeed, but a transcript from memory, of the home of his 
own childhood — a cherished reminiscence of his godly 
father, as he was wont, morning and evening, to worship 
God with his family. This scene of domestic worship, so 
familiarized to our thoughts by the genius of the Scottish 
bard, facilitates our efforts to realize this household of 
Cornelius. It assumes a defined form and actuality in 
our conceptions, as a moral picture. We see the pious 
Centurion, with the family group, gathered around the 
domestic altar — 


148 CORNELIUS OF CJ5SAREA; 

“ Then kneeling down to hea ven's eternal King, 

The saint, the father, and the husband prays; 

Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, 

That thus they all shall meet in future days." 

As the union of the family in the worship of God, is 
essential to the highest well-being of the household, it 
claims special attention in these moral pictures, designed 
to illustrate the true-ideal of home-life. 

Our thoughts on this subject naturally arrange them¬ 
selves in the following order, viz: the duty — the seasons 
— and the blessings of Family-worship. 

I. 

THE DUTY OF FAMILY WORSHIP. 

“ Praying always with all prayer." — Paul. 

Whilst prayer is uniformly recognized in the Bible as 
a duty, it is nowhere enjoined by any express or formal 
enactment. “ Prayer is nowhere in the Scriptures enjoined 
as a duty, which was before unknown, and new at the 
time of the injunction; or as there to be begun. On the 
contrary, it is always spoken of as a duty already known, 
confessed, and practised. All the commands concerning 
it, respect either the times, manner, degree, spirit, univer¬ 
sality, or some other circumstance with which the per¬ 
formance ought to be connected. In no instance is the 
duty enjoined as original, or as the subject of a new 
institution.”* With this admitted fact, concerning prayer 
* Dwight’s Theology, vol. iv. p. 116. 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


149 


in general, it is not strange that even in the New Testa¬ 
ment there is no express command to worship God in the 
family. And if any seek to evade the obligation of 
domestic worship, on the ground that there is no formal 
injunction for such worship, a parity of reasoning would 
invalidate all obligation to pray, either in secret or in the 
public assembly — and as a consequence we should be left 
practically in a prayerless and Godless world. 

The teachings of Scripture in relation to prayer are 
perfectly natural—just such as the facts in the case would 
lead us to anticipate. Men from the beginning had con¬ 
fessed the duty of prayer. There is in every man an 
inner prompting to pray, and an intuitive belief in the 
power of prayer. The duty itself is written by the finger 
of God on the heart, and in man’s moral intuitions, the 
“ elder Scripture.” And hence prayer, in some form of 
expression, is a universal characteristic of man. Races 
of men have been found in the lowest phases of ignorance 
and degradation; but never without some kind of prayer. 
In times of peril or sorrow, his soul as instructively turns 
to some power or being beyond himself for protection, as 
the infant in its tears pillows its head on the bosom of its 
mother. 

The Scriptures assuming the universal recognition of 
prayer and its moral obligation, proceed at once to define 
some of the circumstantials of the duty — in relation to 
the manner, spirit, or universality of its performance — 
without any explicit injunction of the duty itself. 
13 * 


150 CORNELIUS OF CAESAREA; 

Domestic worship belongs to those duties that are so 
obvious, that they are rather assumed than commanded. 
And yet there are numerous passages in the Bible, in 
which the duty of family prayer is clearly involved. 
Others in which it is taught by a necessary inference. 
Take as one instance, the passage from Paul, which we 
have placed at the beginning of this section—“Praying 
always with all prayer”—that is, praying at every season 
suited to devotion, and with such prayers as those united 
in the duty and the circumstances require. Family prayer 
is manifestly included in this general direction of the 
Apostle. 

Besides, such prayer is demanded by the very nature 
of the case. Every Christian must pray; it is the very 
breathing and pulsation of the renewed nature. There 
was no more need of a command for the Christian to 
pray, than for the new-born child to breathe, for in both 
cases it is the condition and necessity of their very being. 

“Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, 

The Christian’s native air.” 

And it is just as natural for the Christian to pray with 
and for those he loves. Prayer is peculiarly a social 
exercise. “If there were but two human beings upon 
earth, they would be drawn, if they were of sanctified 
hearts, to pray with one another. Here we have the 
fountain of domestic worship.” Two persons of kindred 
religious spirit, and religious aspirations, would be 
prompted by a natural law, as well as a gracious impulse 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 151 

to unite in social worship. Hence, that scene in Paradise 
Lost, in which Adam and Eve are represented as engaged 
in morning worship, is no mere picture of the Poet’s 
fancy, hut a shadowing forth of a reality. The first 
instance of Family Worship, was undoubtedly in Paradise. 

The duty, therefore, instead of being “ incorporated into 
the law of commandments,” is left to the pious sentiments 
and gracious promptings of the renewed heart. But, not 
only have Christians, with a holy spontaneity, been led to 
this social worship, but they have been prompted to it by 
a conviction, that such devotion was absolutely demanded 
by the very constitution and design of domestic life. 

Even without any express New Testament command, it 
is easy to see that the proper shaping of Christian domestic 
life, and especially the successful performance of duty as 
to the religious education of children, require the Family 
Altar , on which the father, as priest, may daily offer the 
sacrifice of thanksgiving and intercession.* 

The Lord's Prayer seems obviously to have been in¬ 
tended for family worship. It may be used appropriately 
in secret devotion, or in the prayers of the church, but, 
it is evident, from its whole plan and structure, that it 
was specially intended for the household. Every sentence 
bears the impress of its social character. And the fact 
that one petition especially indicates its daily use, shows 
that it was not primarily or mainly intended for the 
public worship of the church, since that is not a daily 
* Dr. SchatFs History of the Apostolic Church. 


152 CORNELIUS OF C AS S A R E A ; 

worship. This model prayer, given by our Lord, was 
manifestly intended for the family and the fire-side, and is 
thus both a recognition of the duty and a guide for its 
performance. The Savior assumes the existence of such 
devotion, and gives to it his sanction and guidance. What 
higher authority can we ask for the obligation of family 
worship ? 

Sacred history furnishes ample testimonials to the 
practice of domestic worship in all ages of the church. 
Abraham, the friend of God, was accustomed in his pil¬ 
grim wanderings, wherever he pitched his tent, to build an 
altar, and call on the name of the Lord. — (Gen. xii. 7, 
8 ; xiii. 4, 8.) 

Joshua — “As for me and my house, we will serve the 
Lord,” which resolution obviously included the devotion 
of the family. 

Job, who feared God and eschewed evil, we are told, 
offered sacrifices for all his children (Job i. 5, 8); sacrifices 
undoubtedly attended with prayer. 

Of David, we read, that after the public services at the 
tabernacle, he “ returned to bless his household,” evidently 
to perform some solemn act of domestic worship. 

Similar testimonials to family religion are found in the 
New Testament. In the eloquent language of Rev. James 
Hamilton,* “ Do you envy Cornelius, whose prayers were 
heard, and to whom the Lord sent a special messenger to 
teach him the way of salvation ? He was i a devout man, 


* The church in the house. 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


153 


one who feared God with all his house , and prayed to 
God alwaysand who was so anxious for the salvation of 
his family that he got together his kinsmen and near 
friends, that they might be ready to hear the apostle when 
he arrived, and share with himself the benefit.* Do you 
admire Aquila and Priscilla, Paul’s ‘helpers in Christ 
Jesus,’ and who were so skilful in the Scriptures, that they 
were able to teach a young minister the way of God more 
perfectly ? You will find that one reason for their famili¬ 
arity with Scripture was, that they had “a Church in 
their house.’f In the Bible you find instances of family 
devotion in all ranks of life, from the king to the artisan, 
from David’s palace to the tent of Aquila; to teach you 
that whatever be your situation in life, you should still 
have a church in your house.” 

There is ample evidence attesting the observance of 
domestic worship among the primitive Christians. In 
confirmation of this statement, we make the following 
extract from a popular and reliable work on Christian 
Antiquities. 

“ Instead of consuming their leisure hours in vacant 
idleness, or deriving their chief amusement from boisterous 
merriment, the recital of tales of superstition, or the 
chanting of the profane songs of the heathen, they passed 
their hours of repose in rational and enlivening pursuits; 
found pleasure in enlarging their religious knowledge, and 
entertainment in songs that were dedicated to the praise 


* Acts x. 2, 24, 31, 23. 


f Acts xviii. 26 ; Rom. xvi. 5. 


154 COKNELIUS OF c^sarea; 

of God. These formed their pastime in private, and their 
favourite recreations at their family and friendly meetings. 
With their minds full of the inspiring influence of these, 
they returned with fresh ardor to their scenes of toil; and 
to gratify their taste for a renewal of these, they longed 
for release from labor, far more than to appease their 
appetite with the provisions of the table. Young women 
sitting at the distaff, and matrons going about the duties 
of the household, were constantly humming some spiritual 
airs. And Jerome relates, of the place where he lived, 
that one could not go into the field without hearing the 
ploughman at his hallelujahs, the mower at his hymns, 
and the vinedresser singing the Psalms of David. It 
was not merely at noon, and in time of their meals, that 
the primitive Christians read the word of God, and sang 
praises to his name. At an early hour in the morning 
the family were assembled, when a portion of Scripture 
was read from the Old Testament, which was followed by 
a hymn and a prayer, in which thanks were offered up to 
the Almighty for preserving them during the silent 
watches of the night, and for his goodness in permitting 
them to meet in health of body and soundness of mind; 
and at the same time his grace was implored to defend 
them amid the dangers and temptations of the day, to 
make them faithful to every duty, and enable thorn in all 
respects to walk worthy of their Christian vocation. In 
the evening, before retiring to rest, the family again 
assembled, when the same form of worship was observed 


OR, TIIE FAMILY ALTAR. 155 

as in the morning, with this difference, that the service 
was considerably protracted beyond the period which 
could conveniently be allotted to it in the commencement 
of the day. Besides all these observances, they were in 
the habit of rising at midnight, to engage in prayer and 
the singing of psalms; a practice of venerable antiquity, 
and which, as Dr. Cave justly supposes, took its origin 
from the first times of persecution, when, not daring to 
meet together in the day, they were forced to keep their 
religious assemblies in the night.” * 

What has been said may suffice to show the duty of 
family worship. It is based upon divine authority and il¬ 
lustrated by the example of the pious in all ages. It is 
commended to us by the universal voice of the church. 
The same reasons that urge us to pray at all, are equally 
strong in favor of family prayer. There is an obvious 
propriety in acknowledging as families our dependence 
upon God — of rendering united thanksgiving for house¬ 
hold blessings — confessing family sins, and conjointly 
supplicating the divine blessing upon our homes and our 
children. 

* Antiquities of the Christian Church by the Rev. Lyman Cole¬ 
man. 


156 


CORNELIUS OF C^SAREA; 


II. 

SEASONS AND CONSTITUENT PARTS OF FAMILY 
WORSHIP. 

“ One that feared God with all his house, and prayed to God 
always.’' 

“As for me, I will call upon God, evening and morning, and at 
noon will I pray and cry aloud.”— David. 

“ Family-worship, as tlie name imports, is the joint 
worship rendered to God by all the members of one house¬ 
hold.” There should be special care to secure the attend¬ 
ance of all who constitute at the time the household. It 
gives peculiar beauty and impressiveness to the devotion 
to suspend all the domestic duties, so that the whole 
family may participate in the services and blessings of the 
social worship. 

This worship when fully observed consists in the read¬ 
ing of the Scriptures, the singing of praises to God, 
and prayer. The order may be varied, but neither the 
singing nor reading can be omitted without impairing the 
service. The united prayer is the main thing, and that 
of itself properly conducted would constitute family 
worship. But singing and reading are important as con¬ 
stituent parts of the service, and conducive to the general 
result contemplated in such devotions. 

The reading of Scripture daily in the family is of vast 
importance to the different members of the household. 
The children become familiarized with the word of God, 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


157 


and receive religious impressions lasting as life. Some 
members of the family may depend mainly upon this 
means for their knowledge of divine truth. Besides, the 
immediate effect of the truth upon the mind is a pre¬ 
parative for communion with God. 

Singing is a part of the service in which all may learn 
to unite, and is eminently promotive of devotional feeling. 
It is a pleasant method of instilling into the mind of 
childhood the great truths of religion. “Let the word of 
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and 
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiri¬ 
tual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” 

Children easily learn to sing, and naturally find the 
greatest pleasure in this part of the service. And how 
beautiful is the sight of a whole family united in the 
praises of God! How it sanctifies home-duties and re¬ 
lations, and hallows the affectional union of the house¬ 
hold ! Let not this part of domestic service, when at all 
practicable, be omitted. “ The voice of rejoicing is in the 
tabernacles of the righteous.” 

The prayer is the principal part of the worship. Let 
it be comparatively short and instinct with life and anima¬ 
tion, so as not to weary the younger members of the 
household. Let it be peculiar as family prayer, having 
special reference to household sins, incidents, and bless¬ 
ings, so that each member of the family may feel a per¬ 
sonal interest in the devotions. 

In that immortal picture of family worship, which 

14 


158 


CORNELIUS OF C JE S A R E A 1 


.Burns drew from real life among tlie pious peasantry of 
Scotland, lie has given these several parts of family 
worship in his own inimitable, life-like manner. 

The aged sire gathers the household round the family 
altar — opens the old family Bible — selects some of 
“ those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide — and, 
‘Let us worship God! ’ he says, with solemn air.” 

“They chant their artless notes in simple guise, 

They tune their hearts, by far their noblest aim, 

Perhaps Dundee’s wild warbling measures rise, 

Or sainted Martyrs worthy of the name, 

Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame, 

The sweetest far of Scotia’s holy lays. 

Compared with these Italian trills are tame; 

The tickled ears no heart-felt raptures raise, 

Nae unison hae they with our Creator’s praise. 

The priest-like father reads the sacred page, 

How Abram was the friend of God on high, 

Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage 
With Amalek’s ungracious progeny; 

Or how the royal bard did groaning lie 
Beneath the stroke of Heaven’s avenging ire; 

Or Job’s pathetic plaint and wailing cry: 

Or rapt Isaiah’s wild seraphic fire; 

Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre. 


Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme: 

How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed, 
How He who bore in heaven the second name, 
Had not on earth whereon to lay his head; 
How his first followers and servants sped 

The precept sage they wrote to many a land: 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


159 


How he -who lone in Patmos banished, 

Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand; 

And heard great Babylon’s doom pronounced by heaven’s 
command. 

Then kneeling down to heaven’s eternal King, 

The saint, the father, and the husband prays; 

Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, 

That thus they all shall meet in future days: 

There ever bask in uncreated rays, 

No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear, 

Together hymning their Creator’s praise, 

In such society, yet still more dear; 

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere. 

Compared with this, how poor religion’s pride, 

In all the pomp of method and of art, 

When men display to congregations wide, 

Devotion’s every grace except the heart; 

The Power incensed the pageant will desert, 

The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole; 

But haply in some cottage far apart, 

May hear well-pleased the language of the soul, 

And in His book of life the inmates poor enroll.” 


THE SEASONS OF DOMESTIC WORSHIP. 

Of Cornelius it is said, “he prayed to God always;” 
by which is meant that he prayed frequently, or at the 
stated hours of the Jews, who offered up their supplications 
and thanksgivings in the morning, at mid-day, and in the 
evening. The Psalmist says, “ Evening, and morning, and 
at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud, and he shall hear my 
voice.” 


160 


CORNELIUS OF C 2E S A R E A; 


Among Christians, by common consent, the two seasons 
of morning and evening have been appropriated to this 
service. There is an obvious suitableness in this arrange-! 
ment. It is important that there should be fixed seasons 
for family-worship; and these portions of the day are the 
most favorable for the union of the entire household, with¬ 
out interference with the accustomed duties of life. 

Besides there is an obvious moral fitness in morning and 
evening worship. 


MORNING WORSHIP. 

“ My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, 0 Lord; in the 
morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” 

“ New mercies each returning day, 

Hover around us while we pray; 

New perils past, new sins forgiven, 

New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.” 

What a time for prayer is the serene morning — that 
silence of the early dawn — the silence, as it were, of 
expectation — that freshening glow, that new inspiration 
of life, as if it came from the breath of heaven! The 
darkness is rolled away — the iron slumber of the world 
is broken; it is the daily resurrection-hour of rejoicing 
millions. We wake from the slumbers of the night, and 
nothing is lost of ourselves in that sleep of forgetfulness. 
Each limb is filled with life; each sense holds its 
station; each faculty, each thought, is in its place; no 
dark insanity, no dreary eclipse, hath spread itself over 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


161 


the soul. Sleep seems like a returning for a while from 
self-possession into the immediate hand of God, and mys¬ 
terious contact with his regenerating life — for a new 
influx from the Fountain of being, into the very depths 
of our existence, of freshness and strength. We wake up, 
soothed and invigorated in every faculty, to renew the 
service of another day. What shall the thoughts of that 
hour be, hut wondering and adoring thoughts ? Well are 
a portion of our prayers called matins , morning prayers — 
orisons in the first light of day. Devotion is the sponta¬ 
neous service of the morning. How appropriate — as God 
gives us new life, and a new world blushing with the dawn, 
vocal with the song of birds, while clouds of vapor and 
smoke rise like columns of incense from hill and dale and 
human homes to heaven — that our hearts should catch 
the religious sentiment of the morning, “ and at the rosy 
dawn of day” be lifted in adoring gratitude and praise to 
the Father of lights, whose mercies are new every morning. 
And then, the blessings of the day depend, in a great 
measure, on the spirit and manner in which we begin it 
on the key-note of the morning hour. How appropriate, 
when the perils of the night are passed, and those of the 
day are all unknown and untried, when this may be a day 
of trial, of sad news, of disappointment, of sickness, or of 
death — how beautiful to gather our household at the 
threshold of the day, and bow down in humblest adora¬ 
tion before Him “who bids the morn and evening roll,” 
invoking his guidance and grace and blessing for the day! 
14* 


162 CORNELIUS OF cjesarea; 

Every sentiment of the opening day, every gracious 
prompting of the renewed heart, seems to summon the 
family to morning worship — 

“To prayer, to prayer! For the morning breaks, 

And earth in her Maker’s smile awakes, 

His light is on all below and above, 

The light of gladness* and life and love. 

0, then on the breath of this early air, 

Send upward the incense of grateful prayer !” 

EVENING WORSHIP. 

“Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and tho 
lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” 

“ Turn from the beaten path by worldlings trod, 

Go forth at eventide, in heart to walk with God.” 

When the cares and trials of the day are ended, and 
its record is written; when the shadows steal over the. 
earth; when other worlds of the universe are unveiled in 
the infinitude of heaven; then how natural the promptings 
of the pious heart to grateful worship. How meet were 
it then, that in every house there should be a vesper 
hymn! 

“I have read,” says one,* “of such a scene in a 
village, in some country — I think it was in Italy—where 
the traveller heard, as the day went down, and amidst the 
gathering shadows of the still evening, first from one 
dwelling and then from another, the voices of song ; — it 
was the vesper hymn. How beautiful were it, in village 
* Dewey. 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 163 

or city, for dwelling thus to call to dwelling, saying, 
i great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; 
just and true are thy ways; God of the morning! God 
of the evening! we praise thee; goodness and mercy hast 
thou caused to follow us all our days.’ ” 

Beautiful is the evening worship ! The members of the 
family surrounding the domestic altar recount the bless¬ 
ings of the day, then mingle their grateful hearts and 
voices in the sweet sacrifice of prayer and praise — 

“At once they sing, at once they pray”— 

Unitedly, they make their confessions of sin, and plead 
for forgiveness in the name of Jesus, that 

“ Sprinkled afresh with pard’ning blood”— 

they may retire — to rest in peace under the shadow of a 
Savior’s wing — individually repeating the words of the 
Psalmist, “I will both lay me down in peace and sleep; 
for thou Lord, only makest me dwell in safety,” and lulled 
to the slumbers of the night, with some sweet thoughts of 
God and heaven — 

“ When the soft dews of kindly sleep 
My weary eyelids gently steep, 

Be my last thought, how sweet to rest 
For ever on my Savior's breast.” 

Well does the poet sound the Oriental call from the 
turrets of the night: — 



164 


CORNELIUS OF C^SAEEA; 


“To prayer! for the glorious sun is gone, 

And the gathering darkness of night comes on ; 

Like a curtain from God’s kind hand it flows, 

To shade the couch where his children repose; 

Then kneel, while the watching stars are bright, 

And give your last thoughts to the Guardian of night.” 


III. 

THE BLESSINGS OF FAMILY WORSHIP. 

“ Thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before 
God.” 

“Angels are round the good man, to catch the incense of his 
prayers, 

And they fly to minister kindness to those for whom he pleadeth.” 

The advantages of domestic worship justly claim a more 
extended consideration than is practicable in the con¬ 
cluding pages of this chapter. We can do but little more 
than offer suggestions, leaving them to the elaboration of 
your own thoughts, and the blessing of the Divine Spirit. 

1. It is obvious that the daily union of the household 
in social worship will promote that harmony of feeling so 
essential to domestic enjoyment. It has been truly said, 
“ Family prayer is the oil which removes friction, and 
causes all the complicated wheels of the family to move 
smoothly and noiselessly.” There may be occasional jars 
in the best of families; the irritations of business, or the 
cares of indoor life, may ruffle the temper, and generate 
alienations, that mar the beauty of the home - circle. 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 165 

Sudden ebullitions of temper, or bitter words, may disturb 
the delicate adjustment of the social harmony. But when 
they gather round the mercy seat — sing together — and 
kneel together, with the common Our Father upon their 
lips and in their hearts, how are the petty discords and 
alienations forgotten and consumed upon the altar of 
devotion! How are all the discordant elements har¬ 
monized into a beautiful oneness! If evil tempers or 
explosive passions have ruffled the peace and harmony of 
the household, how the domestic service, like the voice of 
Jesus, soothes the troubled elements, and beautifies the 
home-scene with a heavenly calm! Happy the families 
that realize this pacifying influence of the home-altar, 
where the daily prayers are as the dews of Hermon! 

“ Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oint¬ 
ment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even 
Aaron’s beard, that went down to the skirts of his 
garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that 
descended upon the mountains of Zion ; for there the Lord 
commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” 

2. Domestic worship, if rightly observed, must be con¬ 
ducive to family religion, and, as a consequence, to domestic 
order and parental discipline. There is a peculiar adapta¬ 
tion in this daily association of the household in communion 
with God, to quicken every sentiment and feeling of piety. 
It is a daily use of the means of grace, under circumstances 
peculiarly tender and affecting—at the home and fireside, 


166 CORNELIUS OF C^SAREAJ 

among those who are nearest our hearts. “ Here, if any¬ 
where, the heart will respond to the call of devotion, and 
he prompted to burst forth in prayer. Here the fainting 
experience will plume its wings for the attempt of a higher 
flight, and the joys of a hidden devotion will mingle w T ith 
the flames of a common altar.” And then it is a daily 
ordinance of religion, in which the household, by religious 
sympathy and affectional union, are borne upward and 
onward in the divine life, whilst the divine blessing 
descends as the rain and silent dew—“as the small 
rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon 
the grass.” 

And just, as this service tends to promote home-piety, 
will it facilitate parental government. It will deepen the 
sense of responsibility in the parents, and by multiform 
expressions of their solicitude for the piety of their house¬ 
hold, all will be made to feel that religion in their view, 
and in fact, is the one thing needful. By fostering the 
tender relations and vigorous affections of the family, the 
exercise of parental control will be invested with the 
sanctity and authority of love, and subordination be 
recognized as a duty both natural and pleasant. All 
will move in their respective spheres with the ease and 
harmony of love. A domestic piety will hallow the duties 
and cares of life, and make the recreations and pleasures 
of’home such as “leave no stain on the wings of time.” 

8. Pre-eminent among the blessings of family worship 
is its influence upon childhood. From the earliest dawn 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


167 


of intelligence, the children accustomed to the daily ser¬ 
vice see religion in one of its most affecting forms. They 
become familiarized with the great ideas of religion from 
their childhood. Home is consecrated to memory as a 
place of prayer, as the sanctuary of their earliest religious 
thoughts and devotions. “In many instances we may 
suppose, the first believing prayers of the Christian youth 
ascend from the fireside. Slight impressions, otherwise 
transient, are thus fixed, and infant aspirations are carried 
up with the volume of domestic incense. Is it too much to 
say, that in this way family worship becomes the means 
of everlasting salvation to multitudes?”* 

We read of the Carthagenian who led his son, when 
nine years old, to the altar, and made him swear undying 
hatred and revenge against Rome. The impression grew 
with his growth; and years after, that child, as a man, 
marched with burning revenge to the walls of the imperial 
city. So may the Christian parent win the heart of his 
child to truth and God, by leading him daily, in the 
impressible years of childhood, to the altar of prayer. 
The scene of prayer in the early home, associated with 
the memory of parents, brothers, and sisters, is never 
forgotten; it lives on, and ever charms them back to 
childhood. The old home-restraints lie upon him like a 
magic chain, perhaps never utterly forced away. That 
altar of prayer, where once we bowed with father and 


* J. W. Alexander. 


168 CORNELIUS OF CJ3SAREAJ 

mother, has a living history all through life. And the 
religious impressions of such a home must be influential 
for good. 

Said a man of prayer, now ministering with holy hands 
at the altar of God, “ My heart turns to the family altar, 
where first I knelt by a mother’s side, and a father lifted 
his voice in supplication. Impressions were then made 
which time has never effaced. With the first hour of 
waking and the last hour before repose the breath of 
prayer mingled. It arrested our youthful feet at the 
opening of each day, and lingered on our ear as we laid 
our heads on the pillow. Like the still, calm twilight, it 
blessed the dawn and close of the day.” 

Dr. Scott, the Commentator, lived to see his numerous 
family of children professedly pious, and he declared it to 
be the fruit of his family devotions. “ I look back,” said 
he, a short time before his death, “ upon my conduct in 
this respect with peculiar gratitude, as one grand means 
of my uncommon measure of domestic comfort, and of 
bringing down upon my children the blessings which God 
has been pleased to bestow upon them.”* 

Why should not such results flow from family prayer ? 
Do not the divine promises warrant the expectation of 
such results ? Besides the collateral blessings, we are 
authorized to look for God’s special grace in the conversion 
of our children, in answer to the yearning hearts of 

* Quoted from Thayer’s Hints for the Household. 


169 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 

parental love, in their devout aspirations at the family 
altar. 

In many a home the domestic worship has been blessed 
by God to the saving of souls. We will give some well 
authenticated facts in illustration of this point. 

THE INFIDEL CONVERTED. 

A few years ago, an English gentleman visited America, 
and spent some days with a pious friend. He was a man 
of talent and accomplishments, but an infidel. Four 
years afterwards he returned to the same house, a Chris¬ 
tian. They wondered at the change, but little suspected 
when and where it had originated. He told them that 
when he was present at their family worship, on the first 
evening of his former visit, and when after the chapter was 
read, they all knelt down to pray — the recollection of 
such scenes in his father’s house long years ago, rushed 
in on his memory, so that he did not hear a single word. 
But the occurrence made him think , and his thoughtfulness 
ended in his leaving the howling wilderness of infidelity, 
and finding a quiet rest in the salvation wrought out by 
Jesus Christ. In his Fireside , Mr. Abbot tells us of a 
gay young lady who paid a visit of a week in the family 
of a minister, an eminently holy man. His fervent inter¬ 
cessions for his children and the other inmates of his 
dwelling, went to this thoughtless heart: they were the 
Spirit’s arrow, and upon that family altar his visitor was 
enabled to present herself a living sacrifice to God. 

15 


170 


CORNELIUS OF CiESAREA; 


A FAMILY CONVERTED. 

A man in tlie western country removed into a new town 
and took the first measures to establish religious meetings. 
The Lord blessed his exertions; a church was formed of 
which he was chosen deacon, and a minister was settled. 
His family grew up around him, but none of his children 
were converted, and he felt great anxiety lest family 
prayer should cease after he should be removed. He 
lived to be upwards of seventy years old, and all the time 
his constant prayer was, that God would have mercy on 
his children and not suffer the lamp of piety to go out in 
his house. One of the sons moved into the family mansion 
to take care of the old man, as his wife was dead. He 
still kept up family prayer as usual, never forgetting to 
pray for his son, that he might be converted and take his 
place at the family altar. A revival commenced in the 
town, and the minister heard that there was something 
unusual at the old family mansion. He called to see 
them; in one room he beheld six or seven persons weeping, 
distressed for their sins, and the old man kneeling in one 
corner, with his eyes and hands lifted up to heaven, crying 
to God to have mercy on his children. The minister 
made an effort to address them, but found every thing he 
attempted to say far beneath the subject. God was there 
doing his own work — to this God he kneeled and prayed, 
and then left them. The result was, that the son and 
several of his children were converted, and the good old 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


171 


man could say with Simeon, “Now Lord lettest thou thy 
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy 
salvation.” 

FAMILY PRAYER ESTABLISHED BY A CHILD. 

The Rev. John Baily, an eminent divine of the 17th 
century, was so honored of God as to be made the instru¬ 
ment of the conversion of his own father, while he was 
yet a child. His mother was a very pious woman, hut his 
father was a wicked man. The good instructions and 
frequent prayers of the former were so blessed to the 
soul of little John, that he was converted to God while 
very young: and having a remarkable gift in prayer, his 
mother wished him to pray in the family. His father, 
overhearing him engaged in this exercise, was so struck 
with remorse and shame at finding his child, then not 
above eleven or twelve years of age, performing that duty 
in his house, which he had neglected himself, that it 
brought on a deep conviction of his wretched state, and 
proved, through the Divine blessing, the means of his 
conversion. 

But some one may present a counter statement to these 
facts in his own experience, or the experience of others, 
in which such results have not followed from the observance 
of family worship. Then we say there must be some¬ 
thing wrong in the family devotions from which God with¬ 
holds his blessing. “ Ye ask and receive not because ye 
ask amiss.” Perhaps the service is a cold and heartless 


172 CORNELIUS OF CiBSAREA; 

form, without the true spirit of devotion, without faith. 
Let not such men think that they shall receive any thing 
of the Lord. Perhaps the difficulty is more obvious and 
tangible. There may he discrepancy between the family 
prayers and the practice. The devotions of the altar are 
falsified by the life. Such prayers are an abomination to 
the Lord, and are without any moral power upon the 
household. Put even when the devotions and the life are 
in harmony, as in Cornelius, there may be discourage¬ 
ment, because of no visible tokens of the divine blessing. 
We say visible tokens, for the blessing of God must 
descend and abide upon the home of prayer. The blessing 
may linger, but it will come. 

THE DISCOURAGED FATHER. 

The Rev. A. D. Merrill states that there was once a 
pious father, with seven children, who had maintained the 
worship of God in his family until all his children had 
grown up to manhood and womanhood, and not one of 
them had been as yet converted to God. At last the old 
man’s faith began to fail in relation to the promise, and 
growing “weary and faint in his mind,” he resolved to 
give up his family worship, and confine his devotions to 
the closet, and to leave his children to do as they pleased. 
But before he finally proceeded to do this, he concluded 
to call his children together once again, to pray with 
them, and explain to them his reasons for this course. 
Being assembled, and taking up the “ old family Bible,” 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 173 

from which he had so often read to them “ the words of 
eternal life,” he thus addressed them: — u My children, 
you know that from your earliest recollection I have been 
accustomed to call you together around this altar, for 
family worship. I have endeavored to instruct you in 
the ways of the Lord, and to imbue your minds with the 
truth. But you have all grown up, and not one of you is 
converted to God. You are yet in your sins, and show no 
signs of penitence. I feel discouraged, and have con¬ 
cluded to make no further efforts for your salvation — to 
demolish my family altar—to confine my own devotions to 
the closet, and thus endeavor still to work out my own 
salvation, while I leave you to yourselves.” Upon his 
speaking thus, first one. and then another fell upon their 
knees, until they were all bowed before God, and besought 
him, that he would not do as he had resolved, but, that he 
would still continue to pray for them, and that he would 
do it now; for they were now ready to give their hearts to 
God. He bowed with them. The Spirit descended 
according to the promise, and before they rose from their 
knees, they were all made happy in God. One of their 
number, who was married, and away from home, upon re¬ 
turning on a visit, and hearing what great things the 
Lord had done for the rest of the family, likewise imme¬ 
diately submitted to God, and thus were they all saved, 
and the covenant promise fulfilled. 

Notwithstanding the admitted and manifold blessings of 

15* 


1T4 CORNELIUS OF CiESAREA; 

family prayer, it is painful to reflect that, in many 
Christian households, there is no home-altar. 

Why is it so ? There must be serious misapprehensions, 
imaginary difficulties, or sinful indifference, that lead pro¬ 
fessed Christians to neglect an observance so reasonable, 
so obviously demanded by the domestic institution, and so 
signally owned and blessed by God. We can only glance 
at some of the difficulties and objections which have been 
alleged as apologetic of this neglect. 

1. Do you say you have no gift of prayer ? That you 
cannot lead the devotions of your family. How do you 
know this if you have never made the attempt. It needs 
not genius, learning, or eloquence to pray. 

“Pray’r is the simplest form of speech 
That infant lips can try.” 

Does it require great natural ability to gather your 
family around you, read a portion of Scripture, sing a 
familiar hymn, and then, kneeling down, unite in rendering 
thanks to God for his goodness, confessing your sins, im¬ 
ploring the divine mercy, and asking for blessings upon 
your household and the world? Besides the difficulties 
presumed exist mainly in your imagination: an earnest 
effort, in reliance upon the promised assistance of the 
Holy Spirit, would show that they were more formidable 
in prospect than in reality. If, however, you still persist 
in your inability, then use some form of prayer. Better 
do this, than dispense with the stated worship of the 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 175 

family. Procure some book of family prayers.* This re¬ 
commendation to use a form is intended to apply only in 
extreme cases, where the question is either to pray with a 
form, or not to pray at all. For we are convinced that the 
best of all prayers in domestic worship, as elsewhere, are 
those which, without artificial helps, flow from hearts 
which “ God hath touched.” 

2. But you say, I never saw any great advantage in 
this service. It has always seemed a dull and formal 
observance wherever I have seen it. But it need not be 
so — it ought not to be so. Where can we feel, if not 
when gathering our loved ones, we take them with us to 
the mercy-seat ? Let your whole soul be thrown into the 
devotions; let your heart and voice be summoned to 
praise the Lord in some sweet song of Zion, and it will 
not be a dull and formal service, but one full of life, and 
commingling sympathies, and heavenly delight. Instead 
of saying it is dull and wearisome, you will often be con¬ 
strained to say— 

'Tis like a little heav’n below.” 

Dr. Hamilton relates an incident, illustrating how de¬ 
lightful and soul-satisfying this household worship may 
become, if conducted with spirit and fervor. 

“ I was once told of a cottage patriarch who was born 
in those days when Scotland had a church in almost every 

*We would specially commend the works of Drs. Kurtz and 
Ilarkey, or Prayers for Families, by Jenks. 


176 CORNELIUS OF CiESAREA; 

house. There was one in his father’s dwelling ; and when 
he pitched a tent for himself he builded an altar. Round 
that altar a goodly number of olive plants grew up, hut, 
one by one, they were either planted out in families of 
their own, or God took them, till he and his old partner 
found themselves, just as at their first outset in life, alone. 
But their family worship continued as of old. At last his 
fellow-traveller left him. Still he carried on the worship 
by himself. So sweet was the memory of it in his father’s 
house, and so pleasant had he found it in his own, that he 
could not give it up. But as he sat in his silent habita¬ 
tion, morning and evening, his quivering voice was over¬ 
heard singing the old psalm-tune, reading aloud the 
chapter, and praying as if others still worshipped by his 
side. He had not found it dull.” 

3. But you say, our family is so small. u Where two 
or three are gathered together in my name, there am 
I in the midst of them.” Are there two or three in 
your family ? Then Christ has promised to be with you. 
Howard, the philanthropist, never neglected family prayer, 
though often there was no one but his valet to join in the 
service. In his travels through England and on the con¬ 
tinent, he invariably called Thomason to his chamber, at 
a certain hour, to unite with him in prayer. If there be 
but two, though it be but a Ruth and a Naomi, a mother 
and her daughter, your family is large enough to worship 
God, and to get the blessing of those who worship him. 

4. Some plead the pressure of business as an excuse for 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 


177 


neglecting this service. A little girl, for the first time 
passing through the streets of a crowded city, innocently 
inquired, “ Mother, when do the people get time to pray 
here ? ” Looking at the hurry and bustle along the busy 
streets, we might ask the same question. And the fact 
is, that many find no time to pray; and some even say 
they have no time for family worship. But let me ask 
such, for what end has God given you time ? Was not 
time given because eternity is coming ? Is business more 
important than the salvation of the soul ? What shall it 
profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his soul ? 
Unless men will peril their own souls and the souls of their 
children for eternity, they must take time for God. You 
are commanded to “ seek first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness,” and if you reverse or nullify this great 
moral law, you do it at the peril of your soul. No time 
for family prayer! —how will that excuse look at the judg¬ 
ment-seat ? 

But without adverting to other objections, we remark 
that these excuses are not satisfactory to your own con¬ 
sciences, and by no means affect the moral obligation of 
the duty. And we therefore urge upon all Christian 
parents the immediate performance of household worship. 
It is a practice commended by the example of the pious in 
all ages of the church, and which the Lord has signally 
owned and blessed. It tends, when rightly conducted, to 
foster all domestic virtue and filial piety, investing the 
home with a sacred beauty, as the house of the Lord. 


/ 


178 CORNELIUS OF CAESAREA; 

How can you look upon your homes and children, and 
omit a service to which you should feel prompted by every 
moral instinct and gracious impulse ? Shall the very 
heathen in their families call on their false gods, and 
Christian households have no token of their relation to 
the true and living God ? Let it not he so in your family. 

A child, witnessing domestic worship in the house of a 
Christian neighbor, innocently said, “ We have no God at 
papa’s house.” Shall any of your children ever have 
occasion to say this of their home ? In Greenland, when 
a stranger knocks at the door, he asks, “ Is God in this 
house?” If they answer, “Yes,” he enters. We come, 
in this appeal, to your dwelling, and knock at your door 
with the Greenland salutation, “ Is God in this house?” 
Alas! from how many homes, according to the simple 
idea of the child just mentioned, the response comes, “ No 
God here! ” 

We commend this subject to your serious thoughts. It 
may be, your indifference to this duty is attributable to 
a want of consideration. It may be, the subject has never 
been brought before your minds in its solemn aspects and 
its imperative claims. It has been our object, in this 
chapter, to bring this much neglected domestic service 
before your minds as a solemn duty, connected with the 
highest well-being of the household. And we would now 
urge upon all the neglecters of family worship a prayerful 
consideration of what has been said. 

And by all your love of home — all your tender soli- 


OR, THE FAMILY ALTAR. 179 

citude for the salvation of your children — by all that is 
solemn and affecting in that final meeting of the family 
at the judgment-seat of Christ, we beseech you at once to 
put away all apologies, all fear and shame, and take up 
the cross, erect the altar of prayer in your home, and 
say, “ As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 

I will conclude with the solemn and impressive appeal 
of the Rev. James Hamilton : 

“ Fathers and brethren, some of you are the heads of 
happy families to-day. All that I ask is, that you would 
make them happier still; happy not only in your love, 
but in the love of God, the Saviour; happy for time and 
through eternity. The happiest family will not always 
be so. The most smiling circle will be in tears some day. 
All that I ask is, that you would secure for yourselves and 
your children a friend in that blessed Redeemer, who will 
wipe all tears from all faces. Your families may soon be 
scattered, and familiar voices may cease to echo within 
your walls. They may go each to his own, and some of 
them may go far away. 0 see to it, that the God of 
Bethel goes with them, that they set up an altar even on 
a distant shore, and sing the Lord’s song in that foreign 
land! They may be taken from this earth altogether, 
and leave you alone. 0 see to it, that as one after another 
goes, it may be to their Father’s house above, and to sing 
with heavenly voices, and to a heavenly harp, the song 
which they first learned from you, and which you often 
sang together here — the song of Moses and the Lamb. 


180 CORNELIUS OP CiESAREA. 

And if you be taken, and some of them be left, see to it 
that you leave them the thankful assurance that you are 
gone to their Father, and your Father, their God, and 
your God. And, in the meanwhile, let your united wor¬ 
ship be so frequent and so fervent, that when you are 
taken from their head, the one whose sad office it is to 
supply your place, as priest of that household, shall not 
be able to select a chapter or psalm with which your 
living image and voice are not associated, and in which 
you, though dead, are yet speaking to them. And thus 
my heart’s wish for you all, 

“When soon or late you reach that coast, 

O’er life’s rough ocean driven; 

May you rejoice, no wanderer lost, 

A family in heaven.” 


Cjjajitn J-'ifffr. 

BETHANY; OR, THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 

' r* « • 1 . V 

“ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain 
village ; and a certain woman named Martha received him into her 
house. 

“ And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet 
and heard his word.” -— Luke. 

“Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister and Lazarus.” — John. 

“ My soul was sickened within me, so I sought the dwelling place 
of joy; 

And I met it not in laughter; I found it not in wealth or power; 

But I saw it in the pleasant home, where religion smiled upon 
content, 

And the satisfied ambition of the heart, rejoiced in the favor of its 
God.” — Tupper. 

This home-scene is among the most cherished in Chris¬ 
tian memory. Bethany, though a place of great antiquity, 
and otherwise distinguished, is only recognized in sacred 
history, as “the town of Mary and her sister Martha.” 
That rural village on the eastern slope of the Mount of 
Olives, is remembered only as the home of this pious 
family. 

With the few historic glimpses, we readily picture to 
our fancy that quiet home on the mountain side, “far 
from the world’s ignoble strife,” surrounded by the ever- 
varying and beauteous face of nature. 

16 


( 181 ) 


182 


BETHANY; OR, 


Two sisters and an only brother constitute the family- 
group. Bereaved of their parents, and secluded from the 
world, we can easily conceive how they would cleave to 
each other in sisterly sympathy and brotherly affection. 
It was moreover a Christian family. Educated in the 
Hebrew faith, and observant of that ancient form of 
worship, they seemed to have glided almost unconsciously 
from the shadow to the substance, from the type to the 
anti-type, from Moses to Jesus. The Gospel history gives 
no circumstantial account of their transition from Judaism 
to Christianity; but indicates clearly their ardent and 
undissembled attachment to Christ # and his mission. 
“ Though as yet there had been no formal renunciation of 
their former faith and worship — no seclusion from their 
brethren according to the flesh — still holier fire had been 
kindled upon their ancient family altar, and holier incense 
had risen from their hearts, than even ascended from 
golden censers.” The fact of their receiving the despised 
Nazarene into their household, subjecting themselves to 
odium and persecution, was at once an evidence of their 
personal friendship and affection for the Savior, and a 
practical recognition of Christ as the promised Messiah, 
the hope of Israel, and the Savior of his people. 

With their personal friendship and affection for Jesus 
as a man, there was united a religious faith which led 
them to confide in him as their Savior. There was some¬ 
thing more than a mere expression of natural affection 
in Mary’s box of ointment poured upon the Savior’s feet. 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


183 


It was a beautiful testimonial to her Lord — a precious 
memorial of her faith—an act of pious devotion, imparting 
a fragrance of sanctity to her name, which has rendered 
it illustrious and immortal. 

We see in this home all that is beautiful and lovely in 
fraternal affection and domestic harmony — sanctified by 
divine love — a model Christian family. It is not strange 
that such a home should attract the special notice of 
Jesus. That amid the pressure of his trials, and weariness 
of his labors, he should seek repose in this quiet home of 
love, around which there seemed to linger something of 
the beauty and fragrance of the primeval Eden. How 
sweet and refreshing to the Savior, after the foils of the 
day, amidst the rude collisions of the world, and the sad 
wrecks of sin, to retire to this peaceful household of love 
and religion, there to receive that responsive sympathy, 
and those kindly ministries of affection, so soothing to his 
sensitive heart, so grateful to his human and social nature ! 
It was indeed a green, genial spot, amid the barren wastes 
of the world, where his sad and weary heart found repose 
from the trials of a hard and toilsome life. 

Thanks to this pious family for giving to our common 
Lord, a momentary respite from his toils, and such soul¬ 
refreshing entertainment amidst his sorrows. Thanks for 
his sake, whom not having seen we love; thanks for our 
own sakes, in that we have thus a glimpse of Jesus in the 
social relations. In his public ministery we are alterna- 


184 


BETHANY; OR, 


tely awed by the grandeur of his miracles, the outflashings 
of his divine glory, and touched by his pity and tender¬ 
ness to the afflicted and sorrowful; but, in the family at 
Bethany, we see the social phase of his character, we see 
him as the companion and friend, honoring and reciprocat¬ 
ing those graces of friendship and kindliness, those social 
and domestic attachments which beautify the home on 
earth and make it a type and an emblem of heaven. 

With these glimpses of the family at Bethany, and the 
gospel record, that “ Jesus loved Martha, and her sister 
and Lazarus,” we have pictured to our minds a home- 
scene, the most lovely and attractive, Jesus in the midst, 
with Martha as the ministering spirit, Mary as the devout 
and listening disciple, and Lazarus the mild reflector of his 
glory. 

This home-picture naturally suggests, and serves to il¬ 
lustrate the following phases of domestic life, viz: — 
the fraternal relation —the sphere of woman — home-cares 
— home-afflictions — and Christ in the 9 family, the dis¬ 
penser of light and joy, in times of darkness and of 
sorrow. 


TIIE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


185 


THE FRATERNAL RELATION. 

“They were together night and day 
Through all their early years — 

Had the same fancies, feelings, thoughts, 

Joys, sorrows, hopes, and fears ; 

They had a fellowship of smiles, 

A fellowship of tears.” 

No one can contemplate this little household at Bethany, 
without feeling that, next to their joy in God, was the joy 
of their fraternal love and unity.* We conceive of these 
sisters and their brother, as living together in the inter¬ 
change of the kindest fraternal feeling, and all those deli¬ 
cate attentions, and graceful evolutions of the affections, 
which so beautify the home-circle. There is an indefinable 
pleasure in the mere conception of such a picture of 
domestic life. Let it be the earnest effort of every hand 
of brothers and sisters to actualize in their paternal 
home, what they cannot help but admire in the family at 
Bethany. 

Having already considered the primary relations of the 
family, we now turn to .the collateral relations of the house¬ 
hold, or the duties of— 

BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 

The very bonds of the social circle teach us to love one 
another. A member of the family without love is nothing 

* We use the term fraternal in its more comprehensive sense, in¬ 
clusive of sisterly affection. 

16 * 


186 


BETHANY; OB 


but a cold marble image, or, rather, a machine, an annoy¬ 
ance, a something in the way to vex and pain us. The 
social relations not only teach love, but demand it. Take 
any family, where there is a want of affectional unity — 
where there is selfish ambition or jealousy and distrust 
among the members of the household, and it must of 
necessity be a discordant and an unhappy family. There 
may be punctilious decorum and formal politeness, even 
“ threatening urbanity,” and yet with all this there is no 
true peace or happiness. The household wants love, 
and if it will not have that it must suffer; and it ought 
to suffer. 

It must be obvious, therefore, that a proper regard to 
this relation of brothers and sisters is essential to the 
peace and happiness of home. 

The duties of the fraternal relation are founded ulti¬ 
mately upon the will of God as expressed in the relation 
itself, and its inseparable connection with the well-being 
of the family. As in nature there are two great laws of 
harmony — the central gravitation and cohesive affinity, 
so in the domestic economy we have two great principles 
of social harmony — filial affection and fraternal affinity. 
The heart of the child that turns to the mother, is drawn 
to the brother or sister that was nurtured on the same 
bosom. Indeed, there can be no true filial affection that 
does not involve the fraternal, when the relation exists to 
call it forth. They are as inseparable as attraction and 
cohesion in nature. And ordinarily, as in these two 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


187 


forces of nature, the fraternal affinity is in proportion 
to the filial love. 

Children cannot truly love their parents without loving 
one another; hut as in nature the central and cohesive 
forces may be disturbed and the harmony destroyed, so 
may there be admitted into the household counteracting 
moral forces, producing disorder and repulsion among the 
members of the family. And as the very charm of home- 
life depends essentially upon the affectional harmony among 
the younger members, this subject cannot fail to assume its 
just degree of importance in our portraiture of the home- 
scenes of the New Testament. 

There is doubtless a congenital affinity, an instinctive 
attraction between children of the same parentage. It 
is something more than mere congeniality, for that may 
not always exist between brothers and sisters. It is some¬ 
thing more than friendship — an inborn feeling of affinity, 
more delicate, exquisite, and intense than the purest friend¬ 
ship. That there is such a natural affinity is evidenced by 
our own consciousness, and from the fact that no discords 
are so universally odious and repulsive as those existing 
among children of the same household. 

The very words expressive of the fraternal relation 
touch a responsive chord in every heart. When William 
Penn met the Indians, and uttered those noble terms of a 
common brotherhood, “ We are one flesh, and one blood,” 
they responded to the fraternal appeal in these memorable 


188 


BETHANY; OR, 


words, “ We will live in love with William Penn and his 
children as long as sun and moon shall endure.” 

But even stronger than this felt brotherhood of hu¬ 
manity, is the fraternity of the household. To those 
who in childhood and youth have answered to the call 
of brother and sister, the words acquire a beauty and 
sanctity that live in us forever. The natural affinity is 
fostered and strengthened by so many sweet memories 
and hallowing associations. There is the nursery, where 
their infancy was watched by the same loving eye, their 
little sorrows soothed and forgotten on the same maternal 
bosom, and their nightly slumber wooed by the same 
cradle-song. There are the family gatherings, and 
winter evenings at home, and the rambles in summer 
fields, the excited sympathies about the couch of sickness, 
and perhaps in the chamber of death. 0 how these home 
joys and sorrows tend to fuse the hearts of the household 
in mutual sympathy and love. The very relation itself, 
with its manifold associations, all tend to inspire and foster 
the fraternal union and affection. 

It is manifest, then, that in the will of God, revealed in 
the domestic constitution, the welfare of its members we 
find the true basis of the fraternal relation. The fraternal 
sentiment must, therefore, be in harmony with the mani¬ 
fested will of God in the domestic economy. “ When true, 
the fraternal sentiment unites congeniality with consan¬ 
guinity, and develops friendship from kindred blood, as 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


189 


the parted branches open into leaves and blossoms and 
fruits, kindred in their aims as their source.” 

There is, indeed, no scene on earth more pleasant and 
lovely than that of brothers and sisters, who, with all their 
differences of taste and temperament, dwell together in 
mutual devotion, keeping the unity of the spirit in the 
bonds of peace. “Behold how good and how pleasant 
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is indeed 
like the dew of Hermon, that threw its silver veil over 
mountain and valley, and refreshed and beautified each 
tree and flower with a baptism from heaven.” 

In view of the importance of this relation of the 
members of the household, allow me to offer some sug¬ 
gestions that may be conducive to a right apprehension 
and observance of the duties of 

THE FRATERNAL RELATION. 

1. And my first suggestion is, to avoid with special 
care and prayerfulness those passions that are utterly 
destructive of all true fraternal feeling. Guard against 
the first indications of a spirit of jealousy — a spirit 
which, if indulged, will paralyze the warm and generous 
feelings of the youthful heart, and infuse the deadliest 
poison into the very life-blood of the social nature. If 
this temper once gain a lodgment in the mind, there will 
not be wanting in the daily routine of domestic life fancied 


190 


BETHANY; OR, 


partialities, or petty favoritisms, to inflame the passions and 
rend the bonds of fraternal amity and love ; for, 

“ It is jealousy's peculiar nature 
To swell small things to great; nay, out of thought 
To conjure much, and then to lose its reason 
Amid the hideous phantoms it has formed." 

* 

Different endowments of mind, and other idiosyncracies, 
may determine different positions of honor and preferment 
to the different members of the household, and thus there 
may be occasion for developing these latent passions of the 
human heart. And unless the first kindling of the passion 
be suppressed, it will engender alienation and hatred, strife 
and every evil work. We see the sad working of these 
evil passions in the first human family. Let the wretched 
Cain, with the guilt of fratricide upon his soul, speak in 
solemn tones of warning against the first indulgence of 
that temper, which, in its outworking mastery, led to 
results so sad and tragical. Seek by divine grace to 
quench the first sparks of these subtle and wasting 
passions. Honor thy father and mother by confiding in 
their impartial love and discretion in the distribution of 
household favors, and trust that a discriminating judg¬ 
ment and generous goodness, and not a selfish partiality 
or petty favoritism, prompt their favors and allotments 
to the different members of the family. And thus by 
cherishing a true filial love, you will strengthen the bonds 
of fraternal affection, and effectually crush those meaner 
passions of envy and jealousy. Thus you will best honor 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


191 


tlie primal laws of domestic harmony, cheer the hearts of 
your parents, and promote the great end of the fraternal 
relation. 

2. Assuming the religious element as essential to this 
as every other domestic virtue, we suggest as a positive 
requisite in this relation, strong fraternal affection. This 
is here, as in every social excellence, the bond of perfect¬ 
ness. There is an instinctive feeling of affinity between 
brothers and sisters, which may prompt to many expres¬ 
sions of mutual kindness and affection; but without the 
conservative element of religious faith and love, this mere 
instinctive feeling will be fitful and variable, and under 
trying circumstances may be wholly counteracted by the 
forces of sinful passions. 

From the variant moods of temper, perplexing cares, 
and the conflict of different temperaments and interests, 
there will be occasion, daily, for the exercise of kindness, 
forbearance, gentleness, and charity. And unless there 
be a deep, sanctified, fraternal love, the very selfishness 
of the human heart will occasion angry collision and strife 
— each one seeking to centralize in self, the favors and 
immunities of the household. 

Without' a pure fraternal love, there cannot be that 
mutual deference and consideration so essential to domestic 
harmony. “ All cannot have all the favors, and the division 
of them may embroil a household as bitterly as the division 
of an empire has embroiled rival heirs of thrones.” This 
natural tendency will be counteracted by a love which 


192 


/ 

BETHANY; OR, 

leads each to consider the trials, dispositions, and rights 
of the other. It will inspire a sense of oneness, of essen¬ 
tial identity, as members one of another. And that 
motto, “every thing for all,” expressive of the true object 
of society, would become the practical sentiment of the 
household. 

It is easy to perceive how such a sentiment, as a living, 
practical truth, would excite in the younger members of 
the family, gentleness, mutual sympathy, and fraternal 
unity. It is equally obvious that this mutual considera¬ 
tion would operate most happily in those cases of common 
occurrence in the family, where there is a special demand 
for patience and forbearance from the stronger towards 
the weaker, the older towards the younger, the more 
gifted towards those with less natural endowments; as 
well as for those vigils beside the couch of sickness, and 
that quick and responsive sympathy, so soothing and 
sustaining in the first trials and sorrows of life. How 
much may brothers and sisters, by this affectionate con¬ 
sideration, contribute to each other’s progress in personal 
excellence and social virtues ! And how will these fra¬ 
ternal virtues act and react collaterally with manifest 
power, and in the social as in the natural world, it is the 
side-light and warmth that most applies the cheering rays 
from above. 

The following extract from John Angell James , will 
serve to illustrate and enforce the design and moral 
beauty of fraternal affection and unity:— 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


193 


U A family of grown up children should be the constant 
scene of uninterrupted harmony, where love, guided by 
ingenuity, puts forth all its powers to please, by those 
mutual good offices, and minor acts of beneficence, of 
which every day furnishes the opportunity, and which, 
while they cost little in the way either of money or labor, 
contribute so much to the happiness of the household. 
One of the most delightful sights in our world, where 
there is so much moral deformity to disgust, and so much 
unkindness to distress, is a domestic circle, where the 
parents are surrounded by their children, of which the 
daughters are being employed in elegant or useful work, 
and the elder brother some instructive and improving 
volume, for the benefit or entertainment of the whole. 
***** Young people seek your happiness in each 
other’s society. What can the brother find in the circle 
of dissipation, or amongst the votaries of intemperance, 
to compare with this ? What can the sister find in the 
concert of sweet sounds, that has music for the soul, com¬ 
pared with this domestic harmony ? or in the glitter and 
fashionable confusion, and mazy dance of the ball-room, 
compared with these pure, calm, sequestered joys, which 
are to be found at the fireside of a happy family?” 

3. We might speak of those mutual acts of courtesy 
and gentleness, and unaffected urbanity, which so beautify 
the household. These graces of manner are the delicate 
blossoms of the more substantial domestic virtues, the 
tendrils that gracefully adorn the altars of home, and 
IT 


194 


BETHANY; OR, 


diffuse the fragrance of love, like Mary’s box of ointment. 
We have often seen in households, otherwise commendable, 
a coarseness and bluntness of manners, harshness of tone, 
and even severity in repartee, that have marred the 
beauty of the home-scene. On the other hand we have 
witnessed families, where, in addition to the more substan¬ 
tial virtues, were seen the most courteous demeanor, a 
gentleness of expression, an unstudied refinement of 
manners, that have invested the fraternal relation with a 
sort of poetical beauty, and thrown an unearthly charm 
about the home-circle. 

We can only offer these remarks as suggestions upon 
this point, hoping f they will lead brothers and sisters to 
consider for themselves how much their attention to these 
gentler graces of social refinement, may contribute to the 
general beauty and well-being of the household. 

4. The crowning duty of brothers and sisters is that 
of being mutual helpers in the development of individual 
character. It is in this way the fraternal relation becomes 
subsidiary to the main design of the domestic economy, in 
securing the moral perfection of the different members of 
the household. There is a peculiar adaptation in the re¬ 
lation of brothers and sisters, from likeness and unlike¬ 
ness of constitution, to develop the finest harmonies of 
character. The principle to w T hich we refer is recognized 
by Mrs. Jameson, in her strictures upon school life. 

“ I am convinced from my own recollections, and from 
all I have learned from experienced teachers in large 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


195 


schools, that one of the most fatal mistakes in the training 
of children has been the too early separation of the sexes. 
I say has been, because I find that everywhere this most 
dangerous prejudice has been giving way before the light 
of truth and a more general acquaintance with that primal 
law of nature, which ought to teach us that the more we 
can assimilate on a large scale the public to the domestic 
training, the better for all. There exists still, the impres¬ 
sion— in the higher classes especially — that in early 
education, the mixture of the two sexes would tend to 
make the girls masculine and the boys effeminate, but ex¬ 
perience shows us that it is all the other way. Boys 
learn a manly and protecting tenderness, and the girls 
become at once more feminine and more truthful.” 

These sentiments are endorsed by our own judgment 
and consciousness. But they act with peculiar force in 
the association of brothers and sisters. There is just that 
adaptation of the one to the other, which meets a great 
want in each case, which scarcely any other agency can 
reach, at least not so gently and efficiently. How beauti¬ 
ful to behold a brother assuming the office of counsellor 
to a younger sister, and watching each unfolding grace 
and beauty of character ! How beautiful to see an older 
sister watchful over a brother, encompassing his path as a 
guardian angel, imparting a refining touch to his coarser 
nature, and by influences, gentle, but mighty and forma¬ 
tive, moulding his character after her highest ideal of 
the great and good. 

We cannot fail to recognize in this relation a most 


196 


BETHANY; OR, 


beneficent provision for the perfection of individual 
character, and the culture of the heart in the earlier years 
of life. Those whom God has so united should seek in 
every worthy way to be mutual helpers to each other. 
How may the sister, with her quick perception of the 
right, and her feminine purity, act as an earnest, but kind 
and gentle censor of a youthful brother, checking his 
wayward impulses, and guiding to noble ends his impas¬ 
sioned nature. And how may the brother, with manly 
judgment and honor, shield a sister from the rude storms 
of the world, and by considerate counsels and tender 
interferences, divert her from many of the follies of 
fashionable life, and blandishments of pleasure. 0, what 
a beneficent and reciprocal power for good is vested in 
the fraternal relation ! What might not sisters do, by the 
proper exercise of their sisterly influence, to hold back 
their brothers from sinful excesses, and those snares that 
beset the path of the young! And what controlling 
power might a noble brother exert on sisters, in restraining 
them from the foolishness of a vain and flippant life, 
indecent costumes, immodest dances, and equivocal friend¬ 
ships ! It is easy to perceive, from these suggestions, how 
manifold and beneficent this relation may become, and 
was doubtless designed to be, in the education of home. 

“ Would we know what brother and sister have been to 
each other, listen to the triumphal song of Miriam, as she 
braced anew the great heart of the law-giver with timbrel 
and psalm; or look to the grave of Lazarus, where Mary 
and Martha stood with Him who was the Resurrection 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 197 

and the Life. Do we ask more modern instances, stand 
under the open heavens and remember how Caroline 
Herschel shared the vigils of their illustrious explorer — 
open the pages of Neander, and think of her whose 
devotedness made a pleasant home of his otherwise 
solitary study, and encouraged him in his noble work of 
tracing out the progress of the divine life throughout all 
the mazes of theological controversy, and making church 
history a book of the heart, instead of the disputatious 
understanding. Do we need more — only conjecture the 
number of cases nearer at hand in which youth have been 
counselled and helped on through years of preparation to 
their calling or profession by a sacrifice that looked not to 
the world for motive, and asked not of the world reward 
for its success.” 

But this culture of fraternal affection and its associated 
blessings do not terminate with the paternal home. It is 
in accordance with the divine method that the affections 
shall grow outward from within; so that the children who 
have schooled their filial and fraternal feelings at home, 
are prepared to go out into the wider sphere of humanity, 
with hearts that throb with a world-wide brotherhood and 
a divine and heavenly Fatherhood. 

Happy the home where the children dwell together in 
unity and love ! Where no feelings of envy or jealousy 
interrupt the flow of kindly sympathy. Where brothers 
and sisters are gentle and considerate; and by mutual 
devotion, seek to strengthen the bonds of fraternal affec- 
17* 


198 


BETHANY; OR, 


tion. Such homes, like the holy family of Bethany, will 
attract the favor, and secure the enriching and perpetual 
benediction of the Savior. 

Let all apply these thoughts. Children, apply them, 
and he kind in all you do and say. Youth, apply them, 
and be thoughtful where you are often tempted to he 
reckless. Elders, apply them, and never allow care or 
worldliness to chill the better affections of early days. 
Deep in the heart let the old home live, and its pleasant 
memories, brightened by kindly offices, open ever into 
immortal hopes. Old things must pass away, but from 
the Christian they can only pass away by being all made 
new — new in a spirit, that remembers best when pro¬ 
gressing most, and crowns all friendships with charity 
divine. 

II. 

THE POSITION AND SPHERE OF WOMAN. 

“Then Jesus .... came to Bethany.There they 

made him a supper; and Martha served. Then took Mary a 
pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the 
feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.”— John. 

“ So woman, born to dignify retreat, 

Unknown to flourish, and unseen be great, 

* To give domestic life its sweetest charm, 

With softness polish, and with virtue warm, 

Fearful of fame, unwilling to be known, 

Should seek but Heaven’s applauses and her own.” 

H. More. 

The above quotations from the gospel record present a 
new phase of the home in Bethany — a phase suggestive 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


199 


of the special topic of this section. The attitudes of the 
two sisters indicate the true sphere and mission of woman. 
Martha serving, and Mary in her outgushing affection 
anointing the feet of Jesus, is a pictorial representation 
of that sphere as home, and that mission as one of the 
affections, and in those relations and kindly offices which 
specially pertain to the affections. 

The subject, in addition to its inherent importance, 
acquires special interest from the fact that the voice of 
Mary Wolstoncroft, claiming masculine freedom for her 
sex, has found a thousand echoes in our land, demanding 
a reform of our social system in favor of what is technically 
styled “ woman’s rights.” The claim of these modern agi¬ 
tators, though radically unphilosophical, and preposterous 
in many of its details, is nevertheless deserving of some¬ 
thing more than a passing sneer, or the taunt of fanaticism. 
For under much that is flippant and extravagant, are signi- 
cant truths. The cry itself indicates a spreading conviction 
that woman is not fulfilling her whole work in the social 
economy; which is a fact deserving our consideration. It 
moreover indicates something wrong in the working of a sys¬ 
tem which dooms thousands of the sex to self-wasting and 
life-long toils, which barely keep off cold and starvation. 
Who can read that touching “ Song of the Shirt,” by the 
noble bard of Freedom, without having his soul stirred with 
something of the feeling that is now crying for reform. 
And who can think of that darker wrong done to woman 
in that strange and unrighteous judgment of men, which 


200 


BETHANY; OR, 


smiles upon the destroyer of innocence, passing over his 
“ deep damnation” as a venial thing, while it dooms the 
victims of his seductive arts, the Magdalens, to perpetual 
infamy. These things do indicate something radically 
wrong in our social system; and we should at least he 
respectful and tolerant towards those who cry for reform, 
even if its tones and utterances seem to us too boisterous 
and extravagant for gentle lips. 

But with all these concessions, we are still as confident 
that the special reform contemplated by these dreamers, 
and the method proposed for its accomplishment, are radi¬ 
cally wrong, and if actualized would he introductory to 
social evils infinitely worse than the existing wrong which 
we unitedly deprecate. Bor any scheme which would take 
woman from the quiet sphere of home, to speculate in the 
market, scale the unsheltered heights of ambition, or in 
any way make her the rival of man in pursuits which 
demand the implements of muscular toil — his ruder 
nature and sterner will — we believe to be a monstrous 
error; a scheme not only at variance with the will of 
God, as expressed in the original creation, hut destructive 
of the spherical unity of life, and the great end of the 
domestic economy. 

Woman was designed to move in a different sphere from 
man. The delicacy of her physical organization—her 
peculiar sensibilities, and the intuitions of her nature, 
indicate that sphere with unmistakable certainty. Every 
woman conscious of her true dignity glories in her sphere, 


TIIE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


201 


as the moon in her orbit. And every attempt to change 
that sphere, assails, as has been justly said, a great and 
beautiful law of nature, and makes a demand which the 
general sentiment of her own sex will repudiate — I refer 
to that principle of duality which runs through the uni¬ 
verse, dividing every perfect whole into two parts, assign¬ 
ing to each its own appropriate work. It is the duality 
of day and night, of the leaf and the flower, of the hand 
and the heart. Thus woman is the counterpart of man. 
She is equal to him, not because she has the same work to 
accomplish, but a work equally great, a work essential to 
the complete circle of human duty, to the consummation 
of human destiny. 

The question of the equality, or comparative merits of 
the sexes, started by this reform, is the most useless and 
impertinent ever excited by controversy. From the very 
nature of the case a decision of the question either way 
would be wrong; for there is no admissible ground of 
comparison between the two sexes. “You might as well 
inquire which of any two of the great essential elements 
of existence, or laws of matter, or faculties of mind, could 
best be spared; you might as well debate the comparative 
merits of spring and autumn, of morning and evening, 
of oxygen and hydrogen, of memory and hope, of the 
centripetal and centrifugal attractions. Each holds its 
title by the ordaining of a divine plan; and the displace¬ 
ment of either from its sphere would be a resolution of the 


202 


BETHANY; OR, 


whole system into chaos.”* The whole controversy, there¬ 
fore, in its aim is a monstrous absurdity, and a most imper¬ 
tinent effort to put asunder what God has joined together. 

But what are the distinguishing peculiarities of the 
sexes, which indicate their respective spheres? It will 
not do to press this question too far by any formal analysis, 
lest we fall into the very error against which we are con¬ 
tending. And yet, in addition to peculiarities already 
indicated, we may assert, in the language of the eloquent 
divine just quoted, “ that the distinguishing faculty of 
man is mental concentration; that of woman, moral 
impulse. Woman is the representative of affection; man 
of thought. Woman carries her strength in her heart; 
man, in his head. Neither one monopolizes the special 
department; but, by eminence, he is intellect — she is 
love.” Coleridge has the same sentiment — “A woman’s 
head is usually over ears in her heart. Woman has more 
heart than man. She was made to love. Her crown is 
in her heart , and not on her head.” 

This peculiarity indicates at once her sphere and her 
pre-eminent greatness. But just here it is that the error 
of these reformers begins. They repudiate this discrimi¬ 
nation, because it seems a disparagement of woman, 
making her inferior to man. It is the heresy with which 
we are all more or less infected, that the heart is inferior 
to the head, and that a great intellect is more to be 
honored than a good and loving spirit. Hence some 
* Huntington's Sermons. 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


203 


of these reformers are indignant at the theory, “that 
man represents the head, and woman the heart, and refuse 
to acknowledge that the heart is greater than the head, 
love than logic, purity than eloquence, holy living than 
able reasoning.” And yet this discrimination is recognized 
by the greatest minds, whose sentiments have been purged 
of the old barbarous error which sets Napoleon above 
Howard, and a wicked orator over a working saint. 

An eloquent man of our age, speaking of this pre¬ 
eminence of love in woman, consecrated to deeds of kind¬ 
ness and mercy, says, “ Her life is poured out like the 
fair light of heaven around the bedside of the sick. She 
comes like a last sacrament to the dying man, her very 
presence an alabaster box of ointment, exceeding precious, 
filling the house with the balm of its thousand flowers. 
Her love adorns the paths wherein she teaches youthful 
feet to tread, and blooms in amaranthian loveliness above 
the head laid low in earth. .... In the presence of such 
affection as this, the intellect of a Plato would be abashed. 
. ... In sight of such excellence I am ashamed of 
intellect; I would not look upon the greatest mind that 
ever spoke to ages yet unborn.” 

It is because the great dramatist recognized the distinc¬ 
tion in the sexes, that some have found fault with his 
female characters, as inferior to his characters of men. 
He saw, what some of these pseudo reformers seem unable 
to see, how woman can equal man, without becoming man; 
or how she can differ from him without being inferior to 



204 


BETHANY; OR, 


him. Equality, according to their ideas, involves identity, 
and is therefore incompatible with subordination, and runs 
directly into substitution; and such in fact, is the equality 
which these reforms have of late so frequently and so 
excruciatingly urged upon us. On this ground woman 
cannot be made equal with man, except by unsexing and 
unsphering her — a thing which Shakspeare was just as 
far from doing as nature is. 66 To say then that his 
women, according to this view of the matter, are inferior 
to his men, is merely to say they are women, as they 
ought to be, and not men, as he meant they should not 
be, and as we have reason to rejoice they are not.”* 

This modern cry for “ woman’s rights,” is founded on a 
total misconception of this relative distinction of the 
sexes. It proceeds upon the assumption, that equality 
and diversity are wholly incompatible; and that conse¬ 
quently the sexes cannot stand or sit on the same level, 
without standing in each other’s shoes or sitting in each 
other’s seats. And it is because they have either mis¬ 
taken, or are unwilling to acknowledge the principle, that 
humanity is two-fold and is perfect only in the man and 
the woman; the one, the representative of the intellect, 
the other, of the heart, that such unreasonable demands 
are made for equality. Much that is said upon the 
subject is what Napoleon styles, vagabondism of the 
imagination. “I do not like,” said he, “women who 


* Hudson. 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 205 

make themselves men, any more than I like men who 
render themselves effeminate.” 

But we dismiss any further notice of the vagrant 
reasoning of these idle dreamers, and return to the 
original question, What is the sphere of woman ? If there 
is any thing reliable in the inference from God’s creative 
act, “male and female created he them;” if her delicate 
bodily organization, a symbol of the finer issues of spirit, 
proves any thing — if there is any thing, in her mental 
and affectional aptitudes, indicative of her mission — if 
that law of the Divine operations, by which different con¬ 
trivances imply a variety of purposes, establishes any 
thing, then we have the most unquestionable indications 
of the divine intention in regard to the sphere of woman. 
Man is the representative of thought, woman of affection. 

Man by eminence is intellect -— woman is love. “ Is it 
nothing for woman to remember when her sex is made the 
type and tabernacle of love, that we have ascribed the 
loftiest glory even to the Almighty Bather, when we have 
said that his name is love?” So far then from being a 
disparagement, it is the highest distinction of woman, that 
she is the type and tabernacle of love — that her highest 
characteristic name is love. And this indicates at once 
her sphere and her pre-eminent glory. This sentiment is 
beautifully expressed by our great American poet:— 


18 


“What I most prize in woman 
Is her affections, not her intellect! 



206 


BETHANY; OB, 


The intellect is finite, but the affections 

Are infinite, and cannot be exhausted. 

Compare me with the great men of earth ; 

What am I ? Why a pigmy among giants ! 

But if thou lovest— mark me! I say lovest! 

The greatest of thy sex, excels three not!” 

In correspondence with this distinctive characteristic 
of woman, is her place and power in society. And whilst 
she is not interdicted the higher walks of science and 
philosophy, and may reap all the honor she deserves, as is 
instanced in Mrs. Somerville, or our own Miss Mitchell — 
yet is there a realm all her own, sacred to her peculiar 
ministry. It is the sphere of home and the affections. She 
is divinely constituted the priestess of the inner temple; 
and to her are entrusted the veiled shrine and sacred offices 
of the home-sanctuary. 

TIIE CIIBISTIAN ASPECT OF WOMAN’S SPHERE. 

“For contemplation he, and valor form’d; 

For softness she, and sweet attractive Grace; 

He for God only, she for God in him.” —Milton. 

The whole spirit and teaching of the New Testament 
confirm the view of woman’s sphere, which we have just 
presented from a simple process of induction, and it utters 
its uniform protest against the impertinent assumptions of 
these modern reformers. Whilst the Savior showed his 
estimate of woman by uniformly saluting her with the 
most dignified tenderness, and assigned her a place of 
charitable ministration in the Apostolic Church, he never 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


207 


encouraged any publicity that would interfere with home- 
duties. Whilst he welcomed her as a listening disciple, 
or commended her devotion in anointing his feet, or 
hovering as an angel of love about his path of sorrow, he 
never called her to any public office in his church, or com¬ 
missioned her to go forth as a public teacher of mankind. 
Ilis gospel met its warmest reception in the heart of 
woman, and gave new lustre to her domestic virtues, con¬ 
secrated her affectional nature to manifold ministries of 
mercy, and nerved her shrinking delicacy to the heroism 
of the martyr; but it never produced a public^ declaimer, 
an Amazonian disputant, nor a shameless contender for 
political and ecclesiastical rights. It raised her up from 
Pagan servility to her true social position, but left her in 
her own sphere. It enlarged the sphere of her influence, 
but it never changed her mission. 

Christianity so far from interfering with the sphere of 
woman as ordained in the beginning, has recognized and 
honored that sphere, and given a higher consecration to 
her mission. “ By its indestructible reverence for the 
Virgin Mother of our Lord, the Christian Church has not 
only woven into its sentiments a new idea of woman, but 
it has done something to cancel the contempt that was 
thrown upon her in the person of Eve, the seduced of 
Satan. If woman was first in the world to sin, it was on 
her breast also that its Redeemer was nourished; and 
Bethlehem has atoned for Eden. Abating its supersti¬ 
tious excesses, the homage paid to the Madonna is a con- 


208 


BETHANY; OR, 


secration of womanhood quite becoming a religion that 
displaced Paganism, and condemns sensuality.”* 

This position of woman, indicated by her very constitu¬ 
tion and moral aptitude, and honored by Christianity, 
commends itself to all women, conscious of her true 
dignity and crowning glory. There are some women, of 
cold hearts and masculine nerves, whose Amazonian gross¬ 
ness and vulgarity have displaced their native gentleness 
and delicacy, who may aspire to public station and manly 
fame, and affect to scorn the duties of home, as narrow 
and degrading; but every true woman will repudiate such 
contempt and such vainglorious aspirations. And with 
her intuitive perception of what is orderly and beautiful 
in the social system as ordained of God, she will ask, if 
woman is to go out upon the busy thoroughfares of life, 
who is to keep bright the home and train the infant mind ?. 
If she is to rival man, amid the clamors and struggles of 
the outer world, who, when he is fevered with cares, and 
turns back to his home, shall welcome him there, and with 
words of kindness and love, soothe his weariness and 
stimulate his flagging spirits? If she is to wrangle in 
halls of debate, and become giddy with ambition, or 
drunk with fame, who shall watch by the sick-bed, bind 
up the broken-hearted, or glide on missions of kindness 
and mercy to the homes of the poor and sick and sorrow¬ 
ful ? Oh ! no !—is the spontaneous outburst of her indig¬ 
nant rebuke—let no sacrilegious hand thus profane the old 


* Huntington. 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


209 


sanctuaries of ottr world, by diverting the ordained priest¬ 
esses that minister at their shrines, to the vulgar cares of 
outer life ! Let no Goth or Vandal thus ruthlessly break 
down our domestic altars, and make desolate our beautiful 
homes! Let us recognize those gentle and social virtues 
which are peculiarly our own, and the divine ordination, by 
which, since they came out together from the gates of Eden, 
woman has walked side by side with man, through life’s 
joys and sorrows, conscious that woman is never more 
honored, 

“ Than when the homely task she plies, 

With cheerful duty in her eyes; 

And, every lowly path well trod, 

Looks meekly upward to her God.” 

This scene in Bethany — Martha serving , and Mary 
engaged in a ministry of love beside her Savior, reveals 
the true sphere of woman; as home, and her mission, as 
one of the affections. 

I.— HOME. 

“For nothing lovelier can be found 
In woman, than to study household good, 

And good works in her husband to promote.”— Milton. 

Let no one, dazzled with the glitter of outward splendor, 
look upon household duties as trifling and undignified. 
We do not rightly estimate things, if we fail to recognize 
in the elemental school of the family the most important 
sphere of life. Is not the quiet and hidden bosom of the 
18 * 


210 


BETHANY; OR, 


earth, that nurtures with hidden treasures the germs and 
roots of plants, as important in the economy of nature 
as the sun and air, which combine to unfold the blossoms, 
and ripen the clustering fruits, and waft as incense the 
sweet perfumes ? Just such is the relation of the quiet 
home to human life. There the germs of mind and of 
our public institutions are nurtured. It is the face of 
woman which first bends over the breathing child—looks 
into its eyes; and it is her prerogative, by manifold offices 
of love and duty, to mould and fashion that unfolding 
mind. The great statesman, philanthropist, poet, philo¬ 
sopher, and the humble ambassador of heaven, go forth 
upon their several missions, having received the first 
inspirations and formative touches in the secluded home. 
The heart which breathed its devotional affection upon the 
opening mind of childhood, is felt in the pulsations of the 
great heart of humanity. The voice which sings the 
nursery hymn mingles in the multitudinous sounds of the 
wide world. The hand which rocks the cradle moves the 
world. This is not fancy; but according to the historical 
fact stated by a distinguished writer, that not a single 
reformer, statesman, or saint, has come to influence or 
adorn his age, from Jacob to Washington, who was not 
reared by a remarkable mother that shaped his mind. 
And is such a sphere to be viewed as too narrow for the 
aspiring ambition of women who seek to rival man in the 
more public walks of life ? Nay! she who trains a soul 
to noble aims and virtuous deeds, “ stands higher in the 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


211 


scale of benefactors, than he who unshackles a continent 
from thraldom; for she adds more to the sum of human 
happiness, if we estimate the effects by their duration.”* 

And how beneficent may be her influence and power in 
this sphere as a wife ! Great, indeed, may be her moral 
power to soothe her husband in despondency, by her 
quicker intuitions and finer moral sense to guide him 
in times of perplexity, or pour the balm of her own 
gentle spirit upon his sad and troubled heart. What a 
touching testimonial to the mission of woman in this 
relation, is that sorrowful memorial of his wife, written 
by Sir James Mackintosh to a friend: 

“She was a woman,” he writes, “who, by the tender 
management of my weaknesses, gradually corrected the 
most pernicious of them. She became prudent from 
affection; and, though of the most generous nature, she 
was taught frugality and economy by her love for me. 
During the most critical period of my life she preserved 
order in my affairs, from the care of which she relieved 
me. She gently reclaimed me from dissipation, she 
propped my weak and irresolute nature, she urged my 
indolence to all the exertions that have been useful or 
creditable to me, and she was perpetually at hand to 
admonish my heedlessness and improvidence. To her I 
owe whatever I am — to her whatever I shall be. In her 
solicitude for my interest she never for a moment forgot 
my character. Her feelings were warm and impetuous; 

* Chalmers’ Memoirs, vol. i. p. 246. 


212 


BETHANY; OR, 


but she was placable, tender, and constant. Such was 
she whom I have lost; and I have lost her when a know¬ 
ledge of her worth had refined my youthful love into 
friendship, before age had deprived it of much of its 
original ardor.” 

That passage in Washington Irving, descriptive of 
woman’s mission in adversity, has lost nothing of its 
beauty by long familiarity: 

“ As the vine which has long twined its graceful foliage 
around the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, 
when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling 
around it with its creeping tendrils, and bind up its shat¬ 
tered boughs — so is it beautifully ordered by providence 
that woman, who is the dependant and ornament of man 
in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when 
smitten with adversity — winding herself into the rugged 
recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting his drooping 
head, and binding up his broken heart.” 

It is, indeed, a beautiful ordinance of divine providence 
that the weak should sometimes be the support of the 
strong. Woman, the graceful dependant of man in his 
sunnier hours, becomes his consoler and strength in 
adversity— 

“Wreathing him flowers to make his joys more bright; 

Or when the storm has spread its darkest shroud, 

To gild with hope the rainbow on the cloud.” 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


218 


But beyond the home-circle opens a wide sphere for the 
beneficent mission of woman. It is a beautiful feature in 
the moral economy of the church, no less than of nature, 
that the charities of life are pre-eminently assigned to 
female enterprise. And as Christianity spreads over the 
earth her sphere of love widens, and the world is open to 
her ministry of mercy. In the wide range of ignorance, 
poverty and suffering, she may perform her labors of love 
without neglecting the primary duties of home, or doing 
violence to her womanly nature or feminine graces. 

She may not plead with assembled multitudes, in the 
platform or the pulpit, and by the eloquence of speech 
stir the hearts of the people to noble deeds of philan¬ 
thropy— but she can plead the cause of humanity in the 
social circle, and stimulate others by her example. She 
can glide like an angel of mercy through the dark places 
of a great city pulsating with life, and minister to the 
lowly in their ignorance and sorrow. Yes, in the homes 
of the poor and neglected, she may go with the gospel 
message, and the gospel charity and comfort, and in the 
name of Jesus bind up the broken-hearted, give the oil of 
joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit 
of heaviness. 

Look at Elizabeth Fry as she goes on her errands of 
mercy to prisons, to speak and read to the outcast crimi¬ 
nals, and by her ministry of love seeks to touch their 
hearts with some remembered joy of innocence and child¬ 
hood, or reading from God’s word such passages as “ Let 


214 


BETHANY; OR, 


the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, for he will 
have mercy upon him, and unto our God, for he will 
abundantly pardon,” has awakened in the vilest prodigals 
by divine grace a true repentance, and then pointed them 
to that Savior who came to seek the lost, and who heard 
the prayer of the dying malefactor. 

Think of Dorothy Dix , our American Mrs. Fry, ex¬ 
claiming, “ In a world where there is so much to be done, 
there must be something for me to do;” and then devoting 
her life to the insane and vicious. She has visited 
hundreds of maniacs in her sacred mission, and not one 
has she found, however turbulent and fierce, wholly in¬ 
sensible to the influences of religion. She has discovered 
the power of the religious sentiment over these shat¬ 
tered souls. Her quiet worship and loving heart affect 
the raving maniacs like a voice from heaven. They fall 
on their knees, and with clasped hands look upward, as if 
through the overhanging darkness they caught glimpses 
from their Father’s throne and love. In hundreds of 
minds, dark and chaotic, has her gentle voiee relumed the 
almost extinguished light of reason. What a glorious 
mission! 

Woman has a noble sphere—at home and abroad. Man 
acts with greater noise and brilliancy in the eyes of the 
world, as he leads on marshalled hosts to the battles of 
Liberty; or when with impassioned eloquence he pleads 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


215 


for the oppressed, or inspires the multitude with holy zeal, 
and leads them forth to noble deeds of philanthropy; hut 
he does not achieve a greater work than woman, who fulfils 
the quiet duties of home, or goes along the shaded paths 
of misery to minister to the sick and dying, and gathers 
gems for the crown of her rejpicing from the very dregs 
of humanity. 

And then more than we ordinarly suppose, even the 
achievements of man, of all that is great and good, are 
consequentially traceable to woman in some way. “A man 
discovered America; hut a woman equipped the voyage.” 
So, as justly remarked, it is everywhere ; man executes 
the performance; but woman trains the man. Every 
effectual person leaving his mark on the world, “ is 
but another Columbus, for whose furnishing some Isabella, 
in the form of his mother, lays down her jewelry, her 
vanities, her comfort.” 

In view of these high prerogatives of w'oman in all holy 
ministries of the affections, at home, and in the wide field 
of usefulness which Christianity has opened up to her 
loving heart, and her soft but resolute hand, well might 
our own admired Mrs. Sigourney ask, and with a con¬ 
scious pride in the glory of her sex: 

‘‘Sisters, are not our rights sufficiently comprehensive 
— the sanctuary of home, the throne of the heart, the 
moulding of the whole mass of mind in its first formation ? 
Have we not power enough, in all realms of sorrow and 
suffering — over all forms of want and ignorance—amid all 


216 


BETHANY; OR, 

ministrations of love, from the cradle-dream to the sealing 
of the sepulchre ?” 

We are naturally led from this aspect of woman’s 
sphere and mission to make some suggestions on 

THE EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS. 

“ That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the 
similitude of a palace.”— David. 

“ To her new beauty largely given 

From deeper fountains, looked and smiled, 

And, like a morning dream from heaven, 

The woman gleamed within the child.” — Sterling. 

We cannot say, in our day, what Fenelon said in his, 
that nothing is more neglected than the education of 
daughters. There are everywhere indications of an 
unusual interest upon this subject. Almost every town 
and village is adorned with seminaries of learning, 
crowded with the daughters of our land. This we 
regard as among the most hopeful signs of the times — 
symptomatic of an advancing civilization, and prophetic 
of the good days coming. In many respects we hail this 
increased attention to female education with more hope 
than the multiplication of colleges; for, as Fenelon says, 
“ The education of women is more important than that 
of men, since the latter is always their work.” 

As the subject is merely collateral to the main design 
of this volume, we have space to offer only a few sug- 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


217 


gestions, leaving them to the elaboration of the reader’s 
own thoughts and reflections. 

1. The first and most obvious suggestion is, that in the 
education of our daughters there should be special refer¬ 
ence to the ordained sphere of woman — home and the 
affections, or the ministries which specially pertain to the 
affections. 

“ That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished 
after the similitude of a palace.” 

This language of the Psalmist, freely interpreted, is 
sufficient to define the idea of female education. The 
figurative allusion or comparison of David suggests the 
idea of solidity and polish, the union of the useful and the 
graceful in the education of woman, such as will adapt her 
to the sphere in which she is to live and act, the support 
and the grace of social life. 

The usual course of education in our female seminaries 
has been sanctioned by scholars of maturest judgment. 
It is substantially the course adopted in the education 
of young men. It is designed to give the fullest scope to 
the development of mind, leaving the feminine instincts 
and aptitudes to vindicate their own prerogatives. 

A thorough education in the true acceptation of the 
term should be the essential thing, and what are styled 
the graces of education should be regarded as subordinate 
and of secondary importance. It is a great perversion of 
the true order of nature, to make accomplishments the 
main thing, as the result must he a polished vanity. 

19 


218 


BETHANY; OR, 


“Accomplishments are poor tricks, unless their polish is 
bitt the smoothness of substantial knowledge and judg¬ 
ment. A showy girl, who can dance, sing, and prattle two 
or three foreign languages, without being able to speak 
and write sensibly in her own tongue, is one of the most 
lamentable of counterfeits, and may chance to blight the 
peace and dignity of more hearts than one by her shams. 
She is the product of that flashy system of training, which 
is doing more mischief in America than any where else, 
and making society a taw T dry Vanity Fair instead of a 
companionship of hearts and homes.”* 

It is painful to consider the low ideal which some 
parents set before their daughters as the grand object of 
their mutual aspiration. To be trained for beautiful 
brides, or centres of meretricious observation at summer 
w^atering-places, or to be admired in the giddy whirl of 
the dance, for graceful attitudes and flashing beauty 
— what an object of life is this! Who are taught to 
control their feelings and show off their accomplishments, 
and by artificial conventionalities become as heartless as 
waxen images with glass eyes; in whom the chaste enamel 
of nature and all the free blushes of native grace, have 
been polished off with the brush of artificial manners: 
“a living gewgaw, a doll made up of rouge, and musk, 
and lace, a frame to hang flounces on” — to go out 
into society to become smitten and enamored “by some 
mere popinjay and dandiprat in the other sex—a kind of 


Osgood. 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


219 


whiskered essence or organized perfume” —perchance to 
marry, and, after a shortlived excitement of vapid pleasure, 
to linger out a life of married imbecility and wretchedness. 

Oh! it is sad to think of those who are to become wives 
and mothers in our homes, and who ought to be the mild 
conservators of pure morals and good manners in society, 
trained only to live in the whirl of excitement or sparkle 
in the ball-room, as mere airy bubbles, with their evanescent 
hues of beauty floating in the eddying circles of fashion 
and vanity, instead of polished stones, the supporters and 
adornments of domestic and social life! 

Let it be the aim of those entrusted with female educa¬ 
tion at home, or in our seminaries of learning, to realize 
the ideal of the Psalmist, that our daughters may be as 
corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. 
That they may possess the substantial elements of educa¬ 
tion with special reference to their peculiar sphere in life* 
And in this prospective reference we include good house¬ 
keeping. This, however prosaic and homely it may seem 
to the fancy of sentimental young ladies, is nevertheless 
an important requisite in her education. It is among the 
fine as well as useful arts, and rightly viewed its very 
utilities, like the fountain of living water, sparkle into 
beauty. But they are not to be corner-stones, but 
polished after the similitude of a palace. Let every 
attention be paid to the culture of pure tastes, a refined 
imagination, and that natural grace of manner which 
will invest her true womanhood with the graces of refine 


220 


BETHANY; OR, 


ment and social courtesy, as distinguishable from the mere 
ceremonial of studied manners, and the cold and artificial 
graces of fashionable life, as the dewy freshness and 
sparkling beauty of a spring morning, from the glittering 
frost-work of winter. 

2. But all education apart from religion is abortive, as 
to the true aim and end of life. This is specially true 
of woman. “ Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but 
the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.’* 
“ This is the brightest jewel in her crown.” 

In view of her sphere and mission, she pre-eminently 
needs the guidance and strength, the life and power of 
religion. In the opening bloom of life should she be 
found with Christ, and devote to Him the grace and power 
of her youthful enthusiasm. How can she be a polished 
corner-stone in the domestic temple, unless she is built 
upon Him who is the chief corner-stone ? 

She who is to stand as the central light and moral 
power of home — from whom immortal minds are to 
receive their first and most durable impressions in the 
plastic mould of childhood — she who in the initial school 
of human destiny is influentially to affect all social con¬ 
ditions—she of all others most needs the wisdom that is from 
above, and the grace of Christ to meet her responsibilities. 

She is to take her place in society, and her spirit and 
moral attitude will, to a great extent, determine the moral 
atmosphere about her. If she does not frown upon and 
shrink from the touch of the libertine—if she allows a 


» 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


221 


fashionable exterior to excuse drunkenness, and “ a mus¬ 
tachioed lip to consecrate profaneness, she is to blame if 
vice prevails in the community; and her responsibility in 
this respect is deeper than she may he aware.” But if 
she carries into society the chastened dignity and moral 
purity of a true woman, how much may she do to give 
tone not only to the manners but morals of the com¬ 
munity ! She becomes the advocate of every virtue, and 
the effectual reformer of every vice. How much, there¬ 
fore, depends upon the religious education of 'woman! 
Let her learn early to sit at the feet of Jesus, whose 
deepest truth and inmost life were revealed to the sisters 
of Bethany. Then will she be prepared to fulfil her holy 
mission in society, in the church, and in the world. Then 
will “she stand in her household the priestess of an 
immortal faith, the reconciler of human law with the 
divine; then will she move among sons and daughters, 
folding the hands of infancy in prayer, joining the hands 
of all in fellowship, opening them in charity, and pointing 
with her own to heaven.” 

“ She can so impress 
With quietness and beauty, and so feed 
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues, 

Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men, 

Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all 
The dreary intercourse of daily life, 

Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb 
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold 
Is full of blessings.” 

We conclude this subject with another moral 'picture 

19 * 


222 


BETHANY; OR, 


from the gospel, presenting a condensed illustration of 
■woman’s true position and mission. 

THE MARYS ROUND THE CROSS. 

“And there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and liis 
mother’s sister, Mary, the'wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” 

John. 

These pious females are round that cross, like serene 
and beautiful stars, shining in that darkest midnight of 
history. The scene illustrates what is most lovely in 
woman, and is a beautiful symbol of her true position. 
It is the light of the cross that has revealed more and 
more the true dignity of her office and the excellency of 
her nature. From that cross she derives her power, and 
goes forth on her mission and ministry of love. 

The naturalness and touching simplicity of this by¬ 
scene in the Crucifixion authenticates the whole descrip¬ 
tion of the Evangelist, as one caught from actual and 
passing life. Woman appears here in those traits which 
will always constitute her distinctive excellence and glory; 
traits which, while they gladden all the walks of life, 
unfold with peculiar beauty and power in scenes of trial 
and sorrow, demonstrating that her dominion is the affec¬ 
tions, that it is pre-eminently her office to reveal the 
secret power there is in love. The loveliest phases of her 
character come out in the deepening shadows of life. 
With a delicacy and sensitiveness, which, like the iEolian 
harp, trembles at every breath of air, or the mimosa leaf, 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


223 


which shrinks from the gentlest touch, she yet rises with 
heroic devotion and fortitude in scenes of calamity and 
desolation, and yields the sweetest and richest music in 
the fierceness of the storm. This is seen at the Cross. 
The eyes of Jesus, dim with death, turn from those faces 
of scorn and hatred to the looks of those tearful women, 
to the face of his mother. There he meets with a devotion 
more eloquent than words, and a love that cannot die. 
And Mary, the mother—how does the love that bent over 
the manger brighten even through the darkness that hung 
round the Mount of Crucifixion. And there, when man 
was false and cowardly, did woman linger, to mingle the 
tears of pity with the blood of suffering. There she stood 
by the dying Saviour; and went from the Cross to relume 
the “lamp of her devotion at the door of the sepulchre.” 

“Last at his Cross, and earliest at his grave.” 

With this scene before me, I say that woman’s peculiar 
position is near the Cross — her sphere is with the affec¬ 
tions, and in those relations which pertain to the affections. 
Her most potential influence is in the sphere of home. 
Here she acts in the relations of the mother , the wife , the 
sister , the daughter. To her belong the beautiful offices 
of love and mercy—in hours of sickness, in homes of pain 
and penury, in sleepless vigils beside the aged and the 
couch of the dying. And here she may shine with a 
royalty as supreme and glorious as any man in the halls 
of debate, or on the dazzling heights of ambition. 


224 BETHANY; OR, 

Let it be her highest aim to occupy well this sphere. 

“ Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife, 

Strews, with fresh flowers, the narrow way of life— 
Around her here, domestic duties meet, 

And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet.” 

And though she cannot now literally stand by the Cross 
of Jesus, and mingle her tears with the suffering Savior, 
she can go forth to diffuse His spirit in all her social 
relations, and fulfil her mission of mercy to the poor, the 
sick, and sorrowful. And thus, abiding in the work of 
faith and labor of love, she shall see Jesus glorified — she 
shall be blessed with the smile of his love and approval, 
even as the Marys of old by the Cross we$§ blessed by 
his dying gaze. 

hi. 

HOME CARES, AND HEAVENLY PEACE. 

“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many 
things.” — Jesus. 

“And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet 
and heard his word.” — Luke. 

“But Martha was cumbered about much serving.” — Luke. 

“ Commit thy trifles unto God, for to him is nothing trivial.”— 

Tupper. 

In ev’ry home there will be care, 

And trifles to annoy; 

But at the Savior’s feet in prayer, 

The heart finds rest and joy. 

This scene in the home of Bethany—Martha cumbered 
about much serving, and Mary serene and happy at the 
feet of Jesus — illustrates an important phase in our 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


225 


earthly homes. The two sisters appear, in this and two 
succeeding scenes, in their distinct moral features and 
marked personality. There is here only a casual lifting 
of the veil, and we catch but a passing glimpse; yet do 
Mary and Martha stand distinctly defined in our concep¬ 
tions. The one, serene and happy; the other, anxious and 
bustling. The one living in the excitement of action; the 
other in the repose of thought. The one doing; the 
other aspiring. Martha cumbered about much serving; 
Mary devoutly sitting at the feet of Jesus, without a 
troubled thought or anxious care. 

The quiet home of Bethany is the scene of unusual 
bustle and excitement at the unexpected coming of Christ 
and some of his disciples. Upon Martha, it seems, the 
duties of hospitality mainly devolved. She is anxious to 
give the honored guests a reception and an entertainment 
worthy of their distinction. Naturally excitable and im¬ 
pulsive, she loses the serenity of her mind, and is betrayed 
into a fretful, petulant mood, which overlooks the kindness 
due to her sister, and the veneration becoming her dis¬ 
tinguished guest. With a temper ruffled and flushed with 
excitement, she abruptly enters the room where Mary sat 
at the feet of Jesus, and with a manner and language that 
implicated both the Master and Mary, says, “ Lord, dost 
thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone ? 
bid her therefore that she help me.” 

To which her Lord responded in words so gentle and 
touching, yet rebuking her over anxiety, and commending 


226 


BETHANY; OR 


the devout aspirations of her sister — “ Martha, Martha, 
thou art careful and troubled about many things: 

u But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that 
good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” 

MARTHA AND MARY. 

The sacred writers never attempt a portraiture of per¬ 
sons. Even of Christ we have no labored description. 
Of these two sisters we have no formal portraits, and yet 
they look out upon us from this and two other scenes in 
the gospel with all the vividness of reality. Their moral 
features are familiar to us; and we recognize them “ as 
separate and as self-consistent in their individuality, as 
any two persons that we see about us every day.” In 
this scene, Martha, cumbered with cares, losing her self- 
possession, petulant, censorious, contrasts unfavorably with 
Mary, calmly sitting at the feet of Jesus. And yet both 
were the friends of Jesus and possessed of personal ex¬ 
cellences ; but each represented a peculiar order of virtues. 
They represent, says one, two distinct types of character 
—of womanly character. The one is 'practical , the other 
devout and reflective. 

Martha has been styled the female Peter — ardent, im¬ 
pulsive, practical. Her love to Christ is exhibited in her 
bustling activity to furnish an entertainment for her Lord, 
who was wearied with toils, and needed rest and refresh¬ 
ment. Her faults seemed to spring from her virtues. It 
was her intense solicitude for the entertainment of her 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


227 


Lord, winch betrayed her into that excessive anxiety and 
petulance of temper, that provoked the gentle rebuke of 
the Master: “ Martha, Martha, thou art careful and 
troubled about many things.” This timely rebuke made 
her conscious of tjie wrong tendency of her inordinate 
anxiety, inasmuch as her excessive solicitude had disturbed 
the spiritual equipoise of her mind, and that by her ab¬ 
sorption in domestic cares she was really losing sight of 
the one thing needful. She appears in the subsequent 
scenes of the gospel narrative, with the same peculiarities 
of temperament and practical character, but greatly im¬ 
proved in the spirit and temper of her mind. 

Mary differs from Martha in natural temperament, as 
well as in a more reflective order of mind. She is serene 
and meditative, with deep emotions and intense self-con¬ 
sciousness. She resembles John in the tenderness and 
intensity of her love to the Savior. Hence her attitude at 
the feet of Jesus in this scene, whilst the household is in 
commotion, and her sister is fretted with care. She for¬ 
gets the material cares of the household in the aspirations 
of her soul for the spiritual and divine. She sits a 
charmed listener at the Master’s feet, and sees nothing 
and cares for nothing beside her Lord, and the teachings 
that distilled, like the dew, from his lips. In her ideal of 
religion and spiritual vision, she seems to live in a sphere 
above the r petty cares that disturb the equanimity of her 
sister, whose very enthusiasm of kindness seems tinged 
with a spirit of worldliness. In short, “Mary was one 


228 


BETHANY; OR-y 


of those characters who cause us to overlook what they do 
in the consideration of what they are. We are more im¬ 
pressed by her spirit than by her actions. She sat at the 
feet of Jesus, for her appropriate sphere was in the region 
of aspiration and receptivity. Her heart was a censer of 
devout breathings, and her whole being vibrated to holy 
influences like a harp. It seems to be the mission of such 
natures, not so much to act as to shine in their own calm 
brightness, like planets, reflecting upon us a light which 
has been poured into them from unseen urns. . . . While 
she lives her presence glides among us and makes us 
better; and when she dies we feel almost ready to say that 
she has not gone, but returned to heaven.”* 

This particular aspect of the home in Bethany, and the 
different attitudes of the sisters, under the same circum¬ 
stances, illustrate the different phases of domestic cares 
and trials, as viewed from different points of spiritual 
vision — 

“ Martha is careful and troubled about many things. 
Mary , with a serene and peaceful spirit, sits at the feet 
of Jesus.” 

This phase of the home-scene at Bethany leads us to 
consider the cares of domestic life, and the difference 
between earthly perplexity and heavenly peace, as repre¬ 
sented by Martha and Mary. 


* Chapin. 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


229 


I. —HOME CARES. 

“ There is a cross in every sphere, 

And an earnest need of prayer; 

But the lowly heart that trusts in Thee, 

Is happy everywhere.” 

The very scene before us suggests what is matter of 
universal experience, that in every home there will be 
cares and annoyances, which need the pacific power of 
religious faith; and further, that there is something in 
faith and devout communion with Jesus, which will diffuse 
a heavenly peace through the soul in the midst of the 
manifold cares and trivial disturbances that are incident 
to the happiest home-life. 

We are not led now to speak of those cares which 
throng the busy thoroughfares of trade, that fever the 
brain of the merchant, or press with wasting anxiety on 
the professional man, or torture the slaves of Mammon 
and ambition, as they struggle for gold and power. But 
the picture before us conducts our thoughts to the quiet 
scenes of domestic life, to those anxious cares and trials 
and disquietudes which are found in every home, and 
which demand the endurance of faith, and patience of love. 

There is a question of Job which is full of significance 
in its general reference to human life, but has a special 
application to home-cares, that are trivial, but of constant 
recurrence. He asks, “What is man, that thou shouldst 
magnify him, and set thine heart upon him; and that 
20 


230 BETHANY; OB, 

thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every 
moment ? ” 

This last clause, “ tried every moment,” expresses the 
idea of domestic cares. The obvious meaning of the 
passage is not that we are continually afflicted, but that 
everything in the course of life and of every day touches 
our moral nature in the character of a spiritual discipline, 
is a trial of our temper and dispositions, and developes in 
us feelings that are either right or wrong. The very 
passing of time, and the alternations of the weather, often 
indicate by the feelings awakened the tone of our moral 
feelings, and develop in us much that is moral. “Yes, 
the idle watch-hand often points to something within us; 
the very dial-shadow falls upon the conscience.” 

Let any one mark his interior history for one day, and 
see how much that is moral is developed in the process 
of the commonest routine of domestic life. How much 
depends upon the frame of mind in which the day is 
begun. If there is no devoutness in the early morn, how 
possible that in the very first acts — in the process of 
dressing and the toilet — something may fret the spirit 
and disturb the serenity of the soul, and gather a cloud in 
the morning that may overshadow the whole day. How 
possible is it that the adjustment of some article in the 
wardrobe — some slight neglect in the culinary prepara¬ 
tions for the early meal — some annoyance from the ser¬ 
vants may ruffle the spirit in the early hours, disturb 
the equanimity, and touch the springs of the moral 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


231 


nature, and thus give the spiritual hue and moral tone 
to your inner feelings and outward conduct for the whole 
day. Now all this may take place without our being dis¬ 
tinctly sensible at the time that anything wrong has 
happened. The inner disturbance may be so slight as 
not to be matter of distinct consciousness, and yet it 
may not be the less real or influential in affecting the 
temper of our minds and the tenor of our conduct. “We 
are told that the earth and every substance around us 
is full of the electric fluid; but we do not constantly 
perceive it. A little friction, however, developes it, and 
it sends out a hasty spark. And so in the moral world, 
a slight chafing, a single turn of some w T hoel in the social 
machinery, and there comes a flashing glance of the eye, 
a hasty word, perhaps a muttered oath, that sounds omi¬ 
nous and awful as the tone of distant thunder ! What is 
it that the little machinery of the electrical operator 
develops ? It is the same power that, gathering its tre¬ 
mendous forces, rolls through the firmament, and rends 
the mountains in its might. And just as true is it that 
the little round of our daily cares and occupations, the 
humble mechanism of daily life, bears witness to that 
moral power which, only extended, exalted, enthroned 
above, is the dread and awful Majesty of the heavens.”* 
In the case of Martha, it was not some great trial, 
some sudden shock of calamity, or insolent provocation, 


* Dewey's Human Life. 


232 


BETHANY; OE, 


that disturbed the harmony of her soul, perplexed her 
with care, and gave her that censorious and petulant 
spirit; but the common duties of domestic life — a duty 
of every day occurrence — the preparation of a meal. It 
proves what we have just been saying, that these little , 
daily household duties are moral in their effects upon us -— 
a moral discipline — and need the guiding and controlling 
influence of religious faith. And they need it the more 
for the very reason that they are little cares, and of con¬ 
stant recurrence. In great trials the spirit is roused to 
resistance and effort, and looks to God for help; whereas, 
in these trivial, ever-recurring cares the spirit is often 
relaxed and unguarded, and forgets to pray. These cares 
and toils of the household, under divine grace, nurture in 
us patience and strength, and even magnanimity; so that 
the very furniture of the parlor and implements of domestic 
labor become a part of the ordained instrumentality for 
our progress in moral perfection. 

How many and diversified are the cares and troubles of 
domestic life! 

1. Take the young wife, whose life in the paternal home 
has been one of comparative ease and exemption from 
care. She finds in her new position manifold duties and 
obligations for wdiich she is but illy prepared. Amid the 
pressure of other and increasing cares, are added those 
of the mother for her first-born. Soon it starts up in her 
quiet path a being of will and passion. It is to be 
governed and taught submission to authority. Often she 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


233 


is perplexed as to the course of duty. Sometimes there 
is painful conflict between the promptings of maternal 
affection, and the stern behests of duty. She is tried in 
her motherly sympathies, in her patience, and an un¬ 
faltering adherence to the convictions of duty, and nothing 
hut the strength inspired by faith and prayer, can enable 
her to meet this moral crisis, and conduct it to happy 
issues. The maternal relation, with its responsibilities, 
has been considered in another chapter, and we simply 
allude to it here as one of the deepest sources of care and 
anxiety in domestic life. 

But, if in addition to this care — that is in most cases 
inseparable from the family life — there should be any 
infelicity in the conjugal relation; if she is an unhappy 
wife, left to the loneliness of thought and the silence of 
neglect; if she wakes from the dreams of youthful 
love, and finds herself bound to a coarse and selfish 
husband, her affections repulsed, the bright visions of 
youth clouded, and her sad heart doomed to see one 
by one the ruin of her hopes, “the loss of all life’s golden 
links;” and if, as is sometimes the case, she is left to 
shame and desertion — left unbefriended and alone to 
bear up under the accumulated cares and heart-throes 
that shatter her feeble frame; oh! for such trials there 
is no refuge but in God! The heroes of history wear 
wreaths of fame about their bleeding brows; but w r ho shall 
unfold the record of woman’s martyrdom, traced in tears, 
hidden in silence in many a desolate home ? And how shall 
20 * 


234 


BETHANY; OR, 


she meet these wasting cares ? With the perplexed, un¬ 
balanced mind of Martha, or the upward-looking, serene 
spirit of Mary? 

Where can she find repose for her troubled spirit, or 
consolation for her saddened heart, if not with Mary at 
the feet of Jesus — in lowly communion with Him, who 
came to comfort all that mourn — to bind up the broken¬ 
hearted— and give the oil of joy for heaviness — and the 
garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. 

2. But apart from these extreme and melancholy 
instances of domestic trials — in every home — however 
well - conditioned in affectional harmony and external 
comforts, there will be cares and petty annoyances, trials 
of temper and patience. 

Tupper says, “ A well-assorted marriage hath not many 
cares.” It is true, that such a union will, by mutual for¬ 
bearance and consideration, prevent “many cares,” but 
some will be inevitable, and though few, if not met and 
overcome by the spirit of faith and love, they may be 
enough to disturb the peace and harmony of home. 

The sphere of woman is one of comparative isolation 
from the world. She dwells apart from the tumult and 
whirl of excitement which agitate the outer world. Her 
position and duties leave her much alone. Her life is one 
of introversion and self-companionship; she is therefore 
peculiarly sensitive to every change or care in the house¬ 
hold, and needs an inner spring of life and self-reliance. 

The home of Bethany was one of sisterly and brotherly 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


235 


affection — and yet the unexpected arrival of guests de¬ 
manding extra duties and culinary preparations, disturbed 
the equanimity of Martha, oppressed her with cares, that 
ruffled her feelings and led her into sins of temper and 
language, that received the rebuke of the Savior. 

This scene illustrates the remark just made; even in 
well-regulated homes — homes of affection and religion— 
there will be occasions for the trial of temper and disposi¬ 
tions. There may be something in the opening day 
which will call for an act of self-command; the servants 
may be obstinate or perverse; some special direction has 
been forgotten; or they have done the very opposite of 
what you ordered; or some one of the household has upset 
or misplaced an article of furniture. The thing itself may 
be very trivial—but it has ruffled your feelings; and then 
the material consideration is that you lose your self-pos¬ 
session, and your temper is not what it should be. You 
are vexed or fretted, the fine tone of the spirit is dis¬ 
turbed, and, if of an impulsive temperament, that little jar 
may derange the whole domestic harmony—that spark of 
kindled passion may inflame the entire household; for it is 
a matter of fact that family discords usually originate in 
little things. 

But we cannot particularize the manifold incidents, sur- 
prisals, disappointments, the complicated and interdepen¬ 
dent workings of the household, the diversified calls of 
duty, the daily contact of different temperaments and in¬ 
dependent wills, by which the delicate adjustments of home 


23G 


BETHANY; OR, 


may lose their harmony. How unexpected trials of 
temper, and conflict of will, may develop the hitherto 
latent passions of envy or jealousy, elicit the flashing eye 
and the angry word, which, by a law of moral repulsion, 
rebounds with the quick retort and the bitter sarcasm. 
And well if these harsh sounds do not invade the sanc¬ 
tuary of home. Well if they do not break the harmony of 
the social circle, and mar the music of loving hearts. 

We now turn from Martha to Mary—• from domestic 
cares and perplexity to 

II.—HEAVENLY REST. 

“ What nothing earthly gives or can destroy, 

The soul’s calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy.” 

The outward attitudes of the two sisters in this moral 
picture, indicate their apparent spiritual stand-points in 
relation to household cares. 

The one is troubled, petulant, censorious—the other is 
calm, self-possessed, with devout aspirations, sitting at the 
feet of Jesus. The scene thus becomes a pictorial repre¬ 
sentation of domestic cares and heavenly rest. They are 
both encompassed by the same circumstances, yet how 
differently are they affected. Martha is troubled about 
many things, fretted, petulant, losing her self-control, and 
betrayed into language and .conduct as unsisterly as it 
was worldly and unchristian. Mary is serene and happy 
—her faith in Christ gives "a central rest to her soul. 

Let no one, as they look at this picture, at the hea- 


TIIE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


237 


venly calm of Mary amidst the bustle and excitement of 
domestic cares — imagine that her piety was too ideal, 
too spiritual ever to be realized amid the material activities 
of common life. Nor are we to infer from her quiet pos¬ 
ture at the Savior’s feet, while Martha is busy and bur¬ 
dened with household duties, that she was indifferent to 
the common affairs of home, and neglected the practical 
obligations of life. This would be as false to the true 
ideal of female piety as unjust to the real character of 
Mary. The true interpretation of this scene leads us to 
infer that there was an elementary difference in these 
two sisters, indicated by the activity of the one, and 
the spiritual repose of the other. The piety of Martha, 
even if as great as that of Mary, would still manifest 
itself in active service. You perceive this radical differ¬ 
ence in the last gospel-scene in which they are brought 
before us. About a week before the crucifixion we find 
Jesus and Lazarus and the two sisters at a social meal in 
the house of Simon the Leper. Both of the sisters were 
filled with thankfulness, and both expressed their grati¬ 
tude ; but how different the method of its manifestation— 
the one in the bustling service of a feast, the other in the 
silent fragrance of the ointment. You see in the one a 
matter-of-fact nature, full of energy and activity; and in 
the other an ideal, contemplative nature, a devout, 
aspiring soul, seeking some rich symbol to express her 
deep and yearning affection, and leaving that precious 
ointment, poured upon the feet of Jesus as an ever- 


238 


BETHANY; OE, 


lasting memorial of her piety—filling not only Simon’s 
house with its odor, but the whole world with the sweeter 
fragrance of her heavenly devotion; for, said Christ, 
“ Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached, throughout 
the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be 
spoken of, for a memorial of her.” 

With this radical difference of temperament in the two 
sisters, even the grace of God would not make them alike, 
any more than that grace would transform a Peter into a 
John, or a Luther into a Melanchthon. “ There are 
diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.” Recognizing 
this elementary difference in Martha and Mary, we 
expect to find them in the very attitudes in which they 
appear in the several scenes in the gospel — Martha 
always active and serving, Mary always meditative, sitting 
at the feet of Jesus. And if both were equally possessed 
of the spirit of Christ, these different attitudes would 
have been equally acceptable to the Lord. Martha was 
not rebuked for her attention to household affairs, but 
because in her over anxiety she lost the equanimity of her 
mind, and by too much absorption in family cares she 
was actually losing sight of the one thing that is needful. 

Mary was not commended for her seeming neglect of 
domestic duties, but because she recognized higher obli¬ 
gations, and kept these family affairs in their true and 
subordinate position, and performed them in their appro¬ 
priate season, with a sanctified will and in the clear vision 
of faith. In this instance she did not so much neglect 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


239 


her domestic duties, as suspend their pressure to yield to 
nobler impulses and the call of higher obligations. The 
privilege of sitting at the Master’s feet was too precious 
to be lost for material cares; she could 'well dispense with 
these inferior claims whilst listening to Him who could 
solve the great problems of life, and satisfy the aspirations 
of her soul after truth and righteousness. That she was 
right in this course was evidenced by the commendation 
of her Lord— “ Mary hath chosen that good part.” 

This scene shows that the anxious care and perplexity 
of Martha, and the heavenly calm of Mary, are attribut¬ 
able to their relative spiritual proximity to the Savior. 

If, like Martha, we are so busied with social duties, or 
out-door business, that we take no time to commune with 
Christ in prayer, where we may get the true perspective of 
duty, and the true inspiration of life, then, like her, we 
shall be cumbered with much serving. Then we shall be 
car'eful and troubled about many things. Away from 
Christ we shall lose the spiritual equanimity of our souls, 
and fall into diverse temptations that will entangle us in 
doubt and perplexity, if they do not excite unholy tempers, 
and petulance, and fretful irritation, so inimical to all 
spiritual repose and heavenly peace. 

But if, like Mary, we abide with Christ, we shall 
possess her composure and peace amidst the turbulence of 
outward cares. If, like Mary, you sit at the feet of Jesus 
in the opening morn, and listen to the words which, of old, 
fell from his lips, and imbibe his spirit, you will feel a 


240 


BETHANY; OR, 


divine life within you sanctifying the heart, controlling 
the conduct, quickening the spirit, clothing your deport¬ 
ment with a divine beauty, and the evening will close 
around you with a heavenly benediction. If you keep 
near the Savior, not in the bodily attitude of Mary, but 
spiritually within the inspiration of his presence, you will 
realize the fulfilment of his promise to the disciples. 
“ These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye 
might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribula¬ 
tion ; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” 
Yes, in Christ by faith you will have a central repose, a 
divine life; you will dwell in the world, awake to the call 
of every domestic and social duty, responding to every 
sympathy, and yet dwell all the while in heaven, as Jesus 
reposed in the home at Bethany, while he dwelt also in 
the bosom of God. Then, while all without may storm, 
there will be peace within, though many and pressing 
claims throng your quiet path, you will be able to meet 
them in the strength of faith and patience of love. And 
the inevitable cares and perplexities of domestic life that 
agitate the Marthas, will pass over your serene spirit like 
summer storms, that ruffle the surface of the sea, but do 
not reach the calm repose of the waters beneath. And 
you can say from your own happy experience — 

“ These surface troubles come and go 
Like rufflings of the sea; 

The deeper depth is out of reach 
To all, my God, but Thee.” 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


241 


Let your mind be as prompt to meet every household 
duty as Martha, and your heart as ready and generous 
to welcome and entertain your Christian friends, and even 
strangers; “ hut let faith, like Mary, abide in the inner¬ 
most shrine of the heart, calmly sitting at Jesus’ feet.” 

To how many in every department of life, might the 
Savior’s rebuke of Martha be addressed ! How many are 
so absorbed with the claims of business, the cares of the 
household, or the mere frivolities of the world, as to over¬ 
look the momentous interests and destiny of the soul! 
Who, in their phrensied pursuit of mere shadows, 

“ Pash eternity from human thought, 

And smother souls immortal in the dust V* 

In the whirl of these busy cares and troubled thoughts, 
that leave no time to sit at the feet of Jesus, pause for a 
moment, and ask yourselves, what will be the result of 
these restless days and nights, and of this unceasing occu¬ 
pation, which exclude all care of the soul! What will 
remain of them all in a dying hour, and in the unseen 
world ? “ Whose shall these things be which thou hast 

provided?” “ What shall it profit a man if he shall gain 
the whole world, and lose his own soul ?” Oh ! ponder this 
solemn question. Mr. Jay, in one of his sermons, gives 
the following illustration of the folly and madness of 
those who, in their anxiety for the world, lose their souls. 

“ I have somewhere read of a fire, that happened in 

21 


242 


BETHANY; OB 


some portion of our country; and an individual who had 
been extremely busy in rescuing the furniture from the 
house, remembering in an instant that she had left her 
child in the cradle, ran back again in order to secure the 
infant, but found that the flames had already encircled it, 
and that she could not approach it; and she came out 
again to the multitude, wringing her hands, and exclaim¬ 
ing, “ I have saved my goods, but I have lost my child !” 
Oh! if it should be the case with you, that at the great 
day you should say — ‘ I have saved my property, but I 
have lost my soul; I have saved my honor and my repu¬ 
tation, but I have lost my soul!’ Great God! what a 
loss that would be to any one of you!” 

The mother, who would save the cradle, and leave the 
sleeping infant to perish in the flames, is but a faint type 
of the madness which leads a man to provide for the body 
and time, but neglects the soul and eternity. For the 
body is but the material wrappage of the soul; the longest 
time to man on earth, compared with eternity, is like 
a drop of water on the finger’s end to the measureless sea; 
and the world itself is but the cradle in which the infant 
soul, in swaddling-bands, is rocked for immortality. And, 
Oh ! the moral madness, the frantic desperation, to wake up 
in the future, with the in-flashing consciousness, that in 
your care for the body and the world you have lost your 
soul, and filled your eternity with fire ! 

Oh! listen to those words of Jesus, to Martha, and to 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


243 


you. “ Thou art careful and troubled about many things; 
but one thing is needful.” 

It is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous¬ 
ness. It is to secure by faith, in Jesus, the forgiveness 
of sin, and thus a title to heaven; and by personal holi¬ 
ness, through sanctification of the spirit, to be made meet 
for the inheritance of the saints in light. It is like Mary, 
to choose that good part -which shall not be taken away 
from you. 

Let this be the first great and absorbing concern of life. 
Let it be to you the one thing needful; and let everything 
else be made subservient to religion and the soul. Let 
all other cares and toils be comparatively lost in the one 
great thought and care, how you may save your soul and 
glorify God — 

“ How make your own election sure; 

And when you fail on earth, secure 
A mansion in the skies / 7 

Mary is still in the presence of the Savior. Eighteen 
hundred years have rolled away since she went up from 
the home of Bethany to her Father’s house in heaven! 
And still she worships and sings before the Lamb, in the 
midst of the throne; for she chose that good part which 
shall never be taken from her. And Martha has long ex¬ 
changed her cares and toils on earth for the sweet repose 
of heaven; “ but her active mind, and heart, and hands, 

‘ Find sweet employ 
In that eternal world of joy/ ” 


244 


BETHANY; OB, 


IV. — DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. 

“ 0 deem not they are blest alone, 

Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep; 

The Power who pities man has shown 
A blessing for the eyes that weep.” 

“Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick.Then said 

Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” 

We have gone in our meditations to the home of 
Bethany, when reposing in unclouded sunshine, serene 
and happy in affectional union, and blessed with the 
presence of Jesus. But how changed is now the scene! 
The light that sunned their peaceful home is obscured 
by sorrow. The hearts so light and joyous, singing 
hymns and spiritual songs, until the old homestead was 
resonant with the praises of God, are now sad and silent 
in the bitterness of grief. But yesterday all was bustle 
and excitement in the entertainment of unexpected but 
welcome guests; now all is hushed in the quiet vigils 
of the sick-room, succeeded by the profounder silence 
of the grave. Alas! it is but the picture of human 
life, in its quick alternations of joy and sorrow, of life 
and death! For in every age and country our sor¬ 
rowing humanity has echoed the plaintive sentiment of 
the old man on the banks of Ayr — 

“Pve seen yon weary winter sun 
Twice forty times return; 

And every time has added proofs 
That man was made to mourn.”* 



✓ THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 245 

This home-scene, in its visitations of sickness and sor¬ 
row, and the bow of peace which spanned the heavens as 
the clouds were passing away, is a touching illustration 
of home-life in its afflictive vicissitudes, and the con¬ 
solation and joy which Christ gives to the stricken but 
believing heart. “ Let not your hearts be troubled; ye 
believe in God, believe also in me.” The subject is 
systemized naturally in the historical order: Sickness — 
Death , and the Consolation. 


I .—Sickness in the Home of Bethany. 


“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany.” 

John. 

“A life all ease is all abused; — 

0 precious grace! that made thee wise 
To know — affliction rightly used 
Is mercy in disguise.” 


As we look abroad upon this world, replenished with 
the divine bounty, and full of beauty and gladness, we 
meet everywhere with the sad traces of sin and death. 
It does, indeed, seem strange to our earlier contemplation 
of life, that in a world of so many happy homes and holy 
altars, of sacred friendships and communions and devout 
aspirations, there should be the blighting touch of sorrow; 
that in such a world, and beneath the bright skies, there 
should be the dark stroke of calamity — a serpent winding 
through the Eden of our existence. 

Stranger still does it seem that over this home of 
21 * 


246 


BETHANY; OR, 


Bethany there should pass such deep shadows of sadness 
and gloom. Surely that home, so beautiful in affection, 
where Jesus loved to linger after the toils of the day, and 
in whose genial sympathy and kindly ministrations his 
weary and saddened heart was refreshed and cherished — 
surely this spot, if any on earth, shall be kept from the 
blight of sin and sorrow ! But no ; we see sickness there, 
and those hearts so warm and sensitive, so full of gushing 
tenderness, are sad with watchings and anxious fears ; and 
death enters there and rends those clasping ties of affection, 
and leaves that once happy home shrouded in the gloom 
and silence of the grave. 

What we see in this family is hut a type of all other 
homes in their exposure to the evils consequent upon sin. 
Whatever may be the philosophical speculations about sin, 
or the often fanciful theories explanatory of our connection 
with the primeval transgression which “ brought death into 
the world with all our woe,” the fact of our implication, in 
some way, in that sin and its consequents no man in his 
senses can question. The fact is asserted by divine reve¬ 
lation and confirmed by the experience of mankind in all 
ages and countries. “ Wherefore,” says Paul, “ as by one 
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so 
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” How 
sad are the memorials of this fact everywhere! 0 if the 

veil could be lifted from every place of our suffering 
humanity, and the countless homes of physical suffering, 
and mental anguish, with the moan of breaking hearts, 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


247 


could send up their sighs and groans into the great hear¬ 
ing of the world, the world would stand aghast at the 
dread revelation — a revelation at which “ man’s historian, 
though divine, might weep !” 

The scene before us is a simple and touching picture 
of domestic afflictions — a picture, not sketched by the 
fancy, but drawn from real life. It serves to illustrate 
an important phase of the family life — one of personal 
and touching interest to every home-circle. 

It suggests, first of all, that no family, however happy 
in mutual devotion, or blessed with the conscious love and 
favor of God, can expect any special exemption from the 
afflictions that are common to our humanity. But it at 
the same time indicates the cheering fact that sickness 
and sorrow come to the Christian home winged with 
mercy, and in the affecting details of the story we have 
a beautiful illustration of the design and issue of our 
suffering and discipline here — “the trying of our faith,” 
that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,” and that 
though “ weeping may endure for the night, joy cometh 
in the morning.” 

“Heaven but tries our virtues by affliction, 

And oft the cloud which wraps the present hour 
Serves but to brighten all our future days.” 

We are led to consider this domestic scene, in its 
afflictions and consolation, in their consecutive order, 
according to the facts of the history. 


248 


BETHANY; OR, 


1. u Lazarus was sick .” What fears and trembling 
solicitude hover around the couch of sickness, when the 
sick one is a beloved member of the household, and the 
sickness assumes a fatal type and tendency. Both of 
these elements of solicitude existed in this case. It was 
Lazarus who was sick, an only brother, the central stay 
of the family, the only earthly object of his sisters’ 
affection, and whom, in the absence of all other ties of 
kindred, they clasped to their hearts with an intensity of 
affection almost idolatrous; and it was a dangerous sick¬ 
ness, alike fatal and speedy in its termination. Under these 
circumstances, we can imagine the anxious fears and 
sleepless vigils of the sisters beside the couch of their 
only brother. How would Martha, with characteristic 
activity, provide every delicacy that might tempt his 
morbid appetite, and by manifold attentions of kindness 
seek to alleviate his sufferings and smooth his fevered 
pillow! And how would Mary sit by his side like a 
ministering angel, and by her devout spirit and gospel 
words seek to turn the current of his thoughts to Christ 
and heavenward, and thus minister a spiritual balm to 
his soul, diffusing a heavenly peace through his heart! 
Happy the sickness that is blessed with such ministrations 
of sisterly love and sympathy ! 

But Lazarus grew worse. Watching every change m 
the disease, they discover with the intuitive quickness of 
affection, what seemed symptomatic of a fatal tendency, and 
awakened the most painful apprehensions. How natural for 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


249 


these lonely sisters, in such an emergency, to turn their 
fearful and troubled hearts to the Savior. They knew his 
power to heal the sick, and how readily he responded to 
the call of pity, even from strangers. They knew that 
he cherished for their little household a peculiar friend¬ 
ship, and if apprized of their affliction, they felt assured 
that he would hasten to their help and relieve their 
painful apprehensions. With these thoughts and convic¬ 
tions they sent unto Jesus, saying, “ Lord, he whom thou 
lovest is sick.” The form of this message, so spiritual 
and touching, we have no doubt was conceived by Mary. 
She does not plead—as one less spiritual would have done 
— that Lazarus loved Him , and was so devoted to his 
cause, and therefore He should come and heal him. No, 
she pleads His love for Lazarus as the reason why he 
should come. She knew that human love was too imperfect, 
too flickering and transient, to be made the basis of any 
petition to God. But, in pleading the Savior’s love for 
Lazarus, she touches the deepest sympathy and motive 
spring, in behalf of her suffering brother—“He whom 
Thou lovest is sick.” And then she does not say — 
“ Come and cure him.” No, she simply informs him of 
the fact, and leaves it to his love to pursue such a course, 
in reference to her sick brother, as he might deem best. 
What a high tone of spirituality and faith is indicated in 
this message! What an implied acquiescence in the 
divine will, antecedently to any expression of his purposes; 


250 


BETHANY; OR, 


as if she had formally said, whether my brother shall live 
or die, I know not, but, Thy will be done. 

When this message was sent, the sisters breathed more 
freely, for an oppressive weight was taken from their 
burdened hearts. Now the Master knows that Lazarus 
is sick, he will hasten to our help, and all will yet be well, 

With this hope they wait for his coming. They watch 
the face of their brother, his languid eye and fading 
cheek; and, as he grows more feeble, and seems to be 
sinking, how they look out and listen, and fancy that they 
hear his approaching footsteps, and those familiar tones 
of kindness. But still he comes not. Now to their 
thoughts would come visitings of doubt and suspicion, to 
heighten the pains of suspense. What is the meaning of 
all this ? Have we mistaken his friendship ? Is our con¬ 
fidence in him a dream, a fond delusion ? If not, why 
does he not come at the call of our distress. Ah! what 
hours of painful suspense and gloomy doubts, which almost 
strike from underneath the rock of their trust. How do 
they, with intense feelings, pray that the flickering life 
might linger till He came, who was able to save even from 
the gate of death. Slow and feverish pass the moments, 
but no Savior comes. The last ray of hope is fading; the 
dreaded hour has come; the trembling suspense is broken ; 
Lazarus is dead! 

Oh! what gloom enshrouds that once happy home ! 
What desolation! But, the darkest stroke, the deepest 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


251 


touch in this affliction, was the seeming indifference of the 
Savior to the sorrowing hearts of the sisters. 

It does seem strange, even to us, that after hearing that 
Lazarus was sick, Jesus remained two days in the same 
place. To the sisters it must have seemed as the most 
cruel indifference. That He, who loved to linger in their 
home when all was bright and happy, should determinately 
absent himself when that home was dark with trouble; 
that He, to whom they had ministered in kindness, should 
be deaf to their cry of distress, was indeed mysterious. 
But wait, and this dark cloud will pass away, and all will 
be plain. 

What the Savior said concerning the design of this 
affliction, “ that it was for the glory of God,” is not only 
explanatory of his seeming insensibility to the appeal of 
the sorrowing sisters, but a general interpretation of the 
ways of Divine Providence, which, to “our weak, erring 
sight,” are often mysterious. It illustrates that in this, as 
in every similar dispensation, God has some designs of 
mercy to his people in their afflictions. To his people, 
it is always true, that — 

“Behind a frowning providence, 

He hides a smiling face.” 

How changed is this scene of domestic affliction, as we 
look at it in the light of this declaration of Jesus; the 
dark cloud over the home in Bethany is full of mercy, and 
will break in blessings on their heads. 


252 


BETHANY; OR, 


“ This sickness is.for the glory of God.” 

This was realized in relation to those more immediately 
affected by the visitation — Lazarus and his sisters. 

“ Verily, from others' griefs are gendered sympathy and kindness; 

Patience, humility, and faith, spring not seldom from thine own.” 

Lazarus was no doubt blessed by his sickness and 
transient visit to the unseen world. From the intimate 
connection and sympathy between the soul and body, 
whatever affects the one must in some way be felt by the 
other. ,And often the sickness of the body is made con¬ 
ducive to the health of the soul. Some of the hidden 
processes of this beneficent action we do not know. 
Other methods by which this end is accomplished are 
obvious and tangible. 

The physical prostration, the languor and depression 
of the bodily powers and morbid sensibilities, inducing a 
total inaptitude for the accustomed pleasures of the 
world—how such a condition makes palpable to the sick 
man the utter insufficiency of carnal pleasures, “ the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life!” 
How the idols of the senses, “ wooed, embraced, enjoyed, 
fall from his arms abhorred!” How wasting sickness, 
when pleasures lose their power to please, takes the false 
glitter from gold and ambition, and reveals the vanity 
of the world, and the utter insipidity of carnal enjoy¬ 
ments. It is good, amidst the factitious glare of the world, 



THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


253 


and the fascination of the senses, to have the realization 
of these things as they appear on a sick bed. And then, 
in addition to the mellowing influence of disease, there is 
that isolation from the world peculiarly favorable to a 
calm vision of spiritual things. The invalid is left com¬ 
paratively alone ; and, in the stillness of the sick chamber, 
there is time for the introversion of his mind, and 
communion with himself. And, often in the quietness of 
meditation, there come thoughts of the past and the 
future, of God and eternity. Truths that were repulsed 
in the buoyancy of health are pondered in sickness, and 
lips unused to the words of devotion are opened in prayer. 
Whilst writing, a letter is handed to me from a distant 
friend, and the following extract from it is a practical 
illustration of what has just been said—“ Dear Friend:— 
Some months ago I received a little volume from you, 
which, with a note accompanying it, was evidently in¬ 
tended to turn my attention to holy things. I read them, 
but forbore to acknowledge them, lest you should press 
me more upon the subject.” After stating that, since 
then he had been laid upon a bed of sickness, he proceeds 
to say — “ Now I invite your assistance to show me the 
way that leads to eternal life, that I may be prepared for 
either life or death.” So it is with many. 

We read in the gospel that, when they brought to Christ 
one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, 
He took him aside from the multitude and healed him. 
This seems typical of the divine method in healing. The 
22 


254 


BETHANY; OR, 


thoughtless sinner is isolated from the multitude, and Christ 
speaks to him the saving word in the solitude of the sick 
chamber. And many can attest from personal experience 
that their sickness has been blessed to their souls, and 
gratefully unite in saying with the Psalmist, “ Before I 
was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy 
word.” 

“Father, I bless thy gentle hand! 

How kind was thy chastizing rod, 

That forced my conscience to a stand, 

And brought my wandering soul to God.” 

But Lazarus was a good man; then his sickness was 
designed for his higher sanctification. It is important the 
good should be made better, as well as that the bad should 
be reformed. He was no doubt sanctified by this sickness. 
In that quiet home, unmolested by the busy world, happy 
in the affectionate devotion of his sisters, he may have 
needed this very disturbance of the even tenor of his life, 
this waking up of the repose of his spiritual nature, and 
quickening of his Christian graces. Besides, as he does 
not appear to have been much engaged in the public ser¬ 
vices of his Master, it may be he was called by meekness 
and patience in suffering to glorify (rod. It is probable 
that both these ends were subserved by his sickness — 
“For,” says Christ, “every branch that beareth fruit, he 
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” As a 
child of God, Lazarus no doubt realized that disease and 
affliction are but altered forms of mercy, ordained for a 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


255 


blessed ministry — that physical debility is sent to 
establish the soul in firmer health and fuller strength, to 
shed into it the peace of God and spirit of heaven. And 
in the revision of this afflictive Providence, conscious of 
the blessed fruits that remained, he could say with grateful 
fervor, “ It was good for me that I have been afflicted.” 

The Sisters shared in the blessings of this affliction. 
The sickness was both a personal and relative blessing. 
It called into exercise those quiet and social virtues that 
so beautify the chamber of sickness. How the sick one 
evolves the affections, intensifies kindred feelings, and 
becomes for the time the central bond of unity in the 
household! How would these sisters, in their sleepless 
vigils and ministry of kindness to their sick brother, be 
schooled in all that pertains to patience, and hope, and 
sympathy, and thus become perfected in their Christian 
graces and spiritual character. Perhaps they needed 
this painful touch of the Father’s hand to perfect their 
Christian character. They may have leaned too depend¬ 
ency upon that only brother, and they must learn by this 
afflictive dispensation not to repose too exclusively upon 
an arm of flesh. In the absence of all other domestic 
ties, they may have loved Lazarus with an almost idolatrous 
affection, and their love must be chastened. They could 
no doubt testify, as the result of their experience in this 
affliction, that although “no chastening for the present 
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless after- 


256 


BETHANY; OR, 


wards it yieldeth tlie peaceable fruit of righteousness to 
those that are exercised thereby.” 

But that sickness, in its fatal termination, was to be 
instrumental for good beyond the household. Jesus said 
to the disciples — “I am glad for your sakes that I was 
not there, to the intent you may believe.” 

It would give occasion for such manifestations of his 
divine power, as would confirm their faith and glorify God. 
So that Christ did not linger at a distance through in¬ 
difference, or want of sympathy with the afflicted family 
in Bethany, but to secure higher ends than they could 
see. There was a wisely-adjusted scheme of Providence, 
hidden and mysterious, that was evolving light from 
darkness, and beautifully elaborating from the very 
elements of death the clearer manifestations of life and 
immortality. How impressively does the sequel of this 
affecting story impress upon us the duty, in every mys¬ 
terious providence, to stand still and see the salvation of 
God. 

“His purposes will ripen fast, 

Unfolding every hour: 

The hud may have a hitter taste, 

But sweet will he the flower.” 

Lest we should anticipate what appropriately belongs 
to the next and darkest phase of this Home-scene , we 
invite you to go with us again to Bethany, now the house 
of mourning. 


TIIE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


257 


II. — Death in the Home of Bethany . 

“ Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.” 

“Jesus was there but yesterday. The prints 
Of His departing feet were at the door; 

His ‘ Peace be with you ! 1 was yet audible 
In the rapt porch of Mary's charmed ear; 

.Yet, within 

The family by Jesus loved were weeping, 

For Lazarus lay dead." 

Over that bright home there has come a sudden and 
overshadowing cloud. Who can picture to his thoughts 
the sad and silent household, without being touched with 
sympathy for those lovely sisters beside the couch of 
death? It was their only brother — to whom, in the 
absence of parents and friends, their hearts were attached 
with all the tenderness and confiding helplessness of sis¬ 
terly affection — one who was to them more than all the 
world beside — in whom they had treasured up the golden 
drops of life. They had sat by his sick-bed in anxious 
vigils, and though the symptoms were serious, hope whis¬ 
pered to their troubled fears that surely a kind Provi¬ 
dence would spare their only earthly stay; that surely 
one so essential to the very existence of their home — one 
so young and so good, must be spared to them. But 
alas! how true, in the experience of many sorrowing 
hearts, the touching sentiment of Wordsworth, that the 
brightest lights are often the first to be quenched; that 
“The good die first; 

And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust 
Burn to the socket." 

22 * 



258 


BETHANY; OR, 


Still in the alternations of hope and fear they watched 
beside their languishing brother. In trembling expect¬ 
ancy did they wait for the coming of Jesus, who could 
relume the flickering spark of life. But no Savior came. 
The moment from which in dim prospect they had recoiled 
with terror has come — the dreaded blow has fallen, and 
they bend in tearless grief and silent agony over the cold 
and lifeless form of their brother. 

“ Lazarus is dead! ” 

“That form which love had whispered would bo last 
To greet their dying vision, cold and still 
In death is laid. The hand which they had cherished 
Would return no pressure. Those lips which cheered 
Were closed in marble stillness, and gave back 
No fond caress!” 

Who can realize the anguish of the stricken sisters, with 
their crushed hearts and hopes, as they stood beside that 
lifeless form ? Or picture the dark, cold shadows of utter 
desolation that settled upon that home, in the first shock 
of the dread reality! None but those 

“Who from their hearts 

Have released friends to heaven. The parting soul 
Spreads wing betwixt the mourner and the sky! 

As if its path lay, from the tie last broken, 

Straight through the cheering gateway of the sun; 

And, to the eye strain’d after, ’tis a cloud 
That bars the light from all things.” 

And then came the last parting with the loved form, 
though dead. They take the last look, and bear to the 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


259 


tomb all that was left of tbeir departed brother. They 
return to a home from which the light and joy are gone. 
Alas ! to them their home is drear and desolate ! 

“ They had been oft alone 
When Lazarus had followed Christ, to hear 
His teachings in Jerusalem; but this 
Was more than solitude. The silence now 
Was void of expectation.” 

The first outgushing of grief subsides into the deeper 
and more oppressive gloom of desolation. After the 
excitement of the funeral ceremonies are over, all is quiet 
in the house of mourning; but it is the melancholy still¬ 
ness of the calm, darkly brooding over the wrecks of the 
recent storm. 

But let us withdraw from that shadowed home of grief. 
There is a sorrow, as well as a joy, with which the 
stranger should not intermeddle. There is a sacredness in 
such sorrow, that shrinks from the public eye. We would 
not, if we could, lift the veil which the sacred historian 
has thrown over these agonized sisters in their lonely 
sorrow. 

Not long, we feel assured, will the Master leave them 
to mourn, uncomforted. Not long, will He , who loved the 
home, which had so often welcomed him to its peaceful 
bosom, leave it enshrouded in gloom. Soon will He come, 
“who turneth the shadow of death into the morning.” 
Soon will be heard. Lo ! the Master cometh; and on his 
lips are the words of life and immortality 


260 


BETHANY; OR, 


III. —Light in the Home of Bethany. 

“There is a day of sunny rest, 

For every dark and troubled night, 

And grief may hide an evening guest, 

But joy shall come with early light.” 

“And Martha, called Mary her sister, secretly saying, the Master 
is come and calleth for thee.”— John. 

“ When I bring a cloud over the earth, the bow shall be seen in 
the cloud.”—G enesis. 

The dark cloud is passing from the home in Bethany; 
and, true to what was symbolized in the ancient token and 
promise, we see upon the disc of the retiring storm the 
beauteous bow, the token of God’s everlasting covenant 
with his people. 

The meeting of Christ with the bereaved sisters, the out¬ 
burst of their grief, the sublime and thrilling words 
uttered by Jesus in an hour when “bereavement, dimmed 
with tears and fainting with sorrow, was sighing for help 
more than humanthe gathering at the tomb, the son 
of God in tears, the resurrection word, the coming forth 
of Lazarus, all constitute a moral picture, simple, touch¬ 
ing, sublime, without a parallel, in literature sacred or 
profane. We almost fear to attempt any expansion of the 
simple scene, lest by an unskilful touch we should mar its 
beauty, or break the power of its moral grandeur and im- 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


261 


pressiveness. Before saying a word upon this touching 
interview, we would ask you to look at the affecting 
scene, as it appears in its simple beauty and unconscious 
sublimity on the sacred page.—(John xi, 19-45.) 

“And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to 
comfort them concerning their brother. 

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was 

coming, went and met him: hut Mary sat still in the 

house. 

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been 
here, my brother had not died. 

But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask 
of God, God will give it thee. 

Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 

Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again 
in the resurrection at the last day. 

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the 

life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 

shall he live: 

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die. Believest thou this ? 

She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art 
the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the 
world. 

And when she had so said, she went her way, and 
called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is 
come, and calleth for thee. 


262 


BETHANY; OR, 

As soon as she heard that , she arose quickly, and came 
unto him. 

Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, hut was in 
that place where Martha met him. 

The Jews then which were with her in the house, and 
comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up 
hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto 
the grave to weep there. 

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw 
him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if 
thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews 
also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the 
spirit, and was troubled, 

And said, Where have ye laid him ? They said unto 
him, Lord, come and see. 

Jesus wept. 

Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 

And some of them said, Could not this man, which 
opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this 
man should not have died ? 

Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the 
grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 

Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister 
of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time 
he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 

Jesus said unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou 
wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God ? 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


263 


Then they took away the stone from the place where the 
dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, 
Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 

And I know that thou hearest me always : but because 
of the people which stand by I said it, that they may 
believe that thou hast sent me. 

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud 
voice, Lazarus, come forth. 

And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot 
with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a 
napkin. Jesus saith unto him, Loose him, and let him go. 

Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had 
seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.” 

We notice the meeting , the words of Jesus , to the be¬ 
reaved sisters, and the resurrection scene. 

1. The Meeting .—Four days had passed since the death 
of Lazarus. Lonely and desolate is the house at Bethany. 
The dead is buried ; but grief lives, and the hours pass in 
silent agony. The neighbors from the village come to 
sympathize with the bereaved sisters, and many friends 
from Jerusalem are with them to comfort them concerning 
their brother. Grateful to their pained affections were these 
tokens of kindness and the sympathy of friends. But 
there was little in all this to break the midnight gloom 
that was over their home and hearts. 

At length the Master approaches. Martha, with her 
characteristic activity, first hearing of his coming, goes 
out to meet him. After a short interview, she returns to 


264 


BETHANY; OR, 


Mary, saying, “ The Master is come and calleth for thee.” 
And Mary instantly goes out to meet him. 

Though, in their apprehension, he had come too late, 
still is he met with the most cordial welcome. He had 
not responded to their earnest appeal; hut they never 
question his friendship or suspect his goodness. But as 
the sick chamber, with its anxious fears and hopes, and 
thoughts of their departed brother, all come crowding upon 
their minds, they give vent to their painful and conflicting 
emotions in the same outburst of feeling — “ Lord, if thou 
hadst been here my brother had not died.” What natural 
and living truth is there in this simple trait of feeling! 
Many had been the dying whom his touch, his word, had 
given back to life; and, had he stood by the bedside of his 
expiring friend, the tomb would have remained unopened. 
So thought the sisters. 

And is not this the language of our common nature, 
mingling its vain regrets with the resignation of sincere 
and simple faith. It is the experience of many in seasons 
of bereavement. If this or that had been done — if this 
or that physician had been called — if some other course 
had been adopted — the blow might have been averted. 
How that emphatic if, adds to the afflictive blow by di¬ 
verting the mind from the primal source of our afflictions, 
and bewildering the heart in the labyrinthine masje of 
second causes, which no mortal can thread, and in which 
no soul of man ever found repose. And was it not, in 
the case of the sisters, a sad delusion, growing out of their 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


2G5 


defective views of the power and providence of God. 
For Christ had purposely brought about the very con¬ 
tingency named by the sisters. He knew that Lazarus 
was sick, and for that very reason lingered on his way to 
Bethany — waited for him to die. And all this, not from 
any want of sympathy or kindly regard for the sorrowing 
sisters, but to secure higher ends of the Divine adminis¬ 
tration ; it was essential to the religious nurture and 
elevation of that very family, that Lazarus should die. 
And when all the mystic folds of that providence were 
opened, how would those sisters—with a more living faith 
and a richer experience of the divine love — thank God 
that Christ was not there, and that Lazarus had been left 
to die. 

This touching experience of the sisters is a beautiful 
illustration of the promise, “ that all things work together 
for good, to those that love God.” It shows that in the 
most complicated scenes of trial there is divine order, 
working out the happiest issues. 

“ Thy hand, 0 God, conducts unseen, 

The beautiful vicissitude.” 

Let us learn never to despair. Whatever mystery may 
encompass our path—whatever contingencies may seem to 
mock our prayers and disappoint our hopes, until our 
hearts tremble with gloomy thoughts and fears — still let 
us trust and wait. He leads us through deep waters; but 
their baptism is that of the Holy Spirit. His waves and 
billows may go over us, but they bear our souls nearer to 
23 


266 


BETHANY; OR, 


their heavenly rest. The outward he makes subservient 
to the inward, the body to the soul, time to eternity. 
Whatever, then, may he the source of your fear or 
despondency, say with David—“Why art thou cast down, 
0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? 
Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the 
health of my countenance, and my God.” 

The first interview with Jesus is characteristic of the 
two sisters. With Martha the mourning was more of a 
sudden outburst of feeling; with Mary it w r as a deeper 
and an intenser sorrow, and therefore a more quiet and 
lasting grief, seeking silence and seclusion. The language 
of both is the same, as they met Jesus — “ Lord, if thou 
hadst been here.” But see how differently they are 
affected by the same exclamation. Martha, after this first 
expression of her feelings, seems to enter into conversation 
with the Savior with entire composure and self-possession. 
But Mary, with her sensitive and impassioned nature, is 
more profoundly stirred by her sorrow, and from excessive 
feeling can neither speak nor reason. With that out- 
gushing of her heart, “ Lord, if thou hadst been here,” &c., 
she sank in speechless sorrow at his feet. 

3. And how beautifully does the Savior adapt himself 
to the peculiar temperament of the sisters. To Martha, 
who is self-possessed and seeks for some words of con¬ 
solation, He utters those sublime and thrilling words, “ I 
am the resurrection and the life”—“ thy brother shall rise 
again.” To Mary, who is too absorbed with her grief for 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


267 


words, he gives nothing hut sympathy; it was all she was 
prepared to receive; it was all she needed. “ When 
Jesus therefore saw her weeping ... he groaned in spirit 
and was troubled.” To Mary this silent sympathy was 
more than all spoken words. With Martha Jesus rea¬ 
soned ; with Mary He wept. How suggestive is this to 
those who are called to minister to the bereaved. The 
same method and words of consolation are not suited alike 
to all. With some we may reason as Jesus did with 
Martha, and speak the promises; whilst to others we can 
only give our silent sympathy and tears. 

2. The Consolation .—“ Blessed are they that mourn ; 
for they shall be comforted.” (Jesus.) Few can read this 
record of the conversation of Jesus with the sorrowing 
sisters, and of the scene at the grave of Lazarus, with¬ 
out an increasing faith and a profounder reverence. Jesus 
appears in all the gentle sympathies of his humanity, and 
in all the moral majesty of the Godhead. We ponder 
every word of that interview of the Savior with the sis¬ 
ters of Bethany — a season no less memorable for the 
unfolding of his heart than for its stupendous miracle 
of omnipotent mercy. Thanks be to God for those words 
that have unsealed the grave and unveiled the future; 
that the omnipotent fiat has swept over the valley of death 
in the sight of the living; that the long procession of the 
dying has been met and turned back by the Lord of Life! 

To these mourning sisters Christ uttered words of con¬ 
solation — precious words of life and immortality; words 


263 


BETHANY! OR 


in which gleamed the hope of the reunion of kindred saints 
in glory. 

1. “ Thy brother shall rise again.” This met the 
special want of the questioning Martha. She believed 
in the resurrection of the body; it was an article of the 
national creed. But the belief of a general resurrection 
did not meet the yearning of a heart that wept for an only 
brother. However cheering to individual expectation, it 
was not enough for bereaved affection. It was to such 
sorrow, one of the bitterest in the world — that of a sister 
left alone in the world — that Jesus speaks; and He says, 
“ Thy brother shall live again.” 

“ Thy brother shall live again.” This was comfort to 
the sorrowing sister. Thy brother shall rise again — thy 
brother! Not some undefined and spiritual substance 
shall be eliminated from the chaos and gloom of the 
grave — not some new and strange being shall go forth 
from the tomb; “but life — life, in its character, its 
affections, its spiritual identity, such as it is here: thy 
brother shall rise again.” He is not lost to thee; he 
shall not be so spiritually transformed, or commingled 
with the hosts of the redeemed, as to elude the recognition 
of sisterly affection. In that happy world you shall find 
him again — find thy brother ! 0 blessed revelation! our 

loved ones, who have died in Jesus, not only live, but we 
shall know them, and be with them evermore. And there 
shall be a glorious fellowship of Christian kindred with 
one another and with Jesus forever! 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 269 

But full as tliis assurance was of comfort and of glory, 
it did not fully satisfy Martha; it was too dim and dis¬ 
tant. Her heart in its troubled grief yearned for some¬ 
thing near and tangible. There seemed to float in her 
thoughts some undefined hope that her Lord might, even • 
then , interpose his power and restore the departed bro¬ 
ther. And with this hope trembling in her heart she 
says, “ I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask 
of God, God will give it thee.” To this suggestion the 
Savior does not reply; he does not tell her whether her 
brother shall immediately come back to her; but utters 
himself in a more general and a grander truth. 

2. In addition to the inexpressible comfort and hope 
already given, the Savior says to Martha, in tones of 
majesty, uttered with the most solemn and joyous em¬ 
phasis, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” 

Martha had expressed her belief in a general resur¬ 
rection at the last day; but she seemed not to associate 
this resurrection with Jesus as the cause and the agent. 
The Redeemer therefore gathers, as it were, and merges 
the general resurrection into Himself, and says, “I am 
the resurrection and the life.” 

What words are these, to be uttered in a world of the 
dying, amidst the wrecks of time, the memorials of buried 
generations! What words for those weeping sisters, and 
for our weeping humanity in all times, yearning for some 
23 * 


270 


BETHANY; OB, 


heaven-sent voice to break the silence of the grave, and 
speak of life among the sleeping dead! 

“ And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die.” That is, says an eloquent writer, he that believeth 
in me, receiveth me—hath the spirit, the spiritual life 
that is in me — is already living an immortal life. He 
shall never die. That in him which partakes of my 
inward life, shall never die. It is essentially immortal, 
and immortally blessed; and no dark eclipse shall come 
over it, between death and the resurrection, to bury it in 
the gloom of utter unconsciousness, or to cause it to wan¬ 
der like a shadow in the dim realms of an intermediate 
state. “ I am the resurrection. Thy brother, who hath 
part in me, lives now as truly as I live.” 

“Believest thou this?” This was* the point upon 
which depended their personal consolation in this be¬ 
reavement. Faith in him as the Savior of the world, and 
as their Savior; as one who had atoned for sin, and was 
commissioned to bring life and immortality clearly to 
light; as one who, through his own death and resur¬ 
rection, should open the way to heaven. This humble, 
heart-faith in Jesus, is what they specially needed at this 
crisis of their trial. It is what we all need, and must 
have, if we would be comforted when forsaken, bereaved, 
and broken-hearted with some crushing trial. And more 
than we know can this faith — the breathing of the life 
of Jesus in us, the bright cloud around us in which he 
walked—bring strength and comfort in the hour of mortal 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 271 

sorrow and bitterness. And hence Christ specially pro¬ 
poses to the bereaved sisters faith in him as their only 
comfort. 

“Believest thou this?” There is something beautiful 
in the humble modesty and yet whole-heartedness of 
Martha’s reply. It was half evasive, and its only fulness 
was that of the heart. “ Yea, Lord: I believe that thou 
art the Christ, the son of God, who should come into the 
world.” It was the spontaneous expression of her faith 
in Jesus, as the son of God, the Savior, the resurrection 
and the life ; And, as if now satisfied and comforted, she 
goes to call Mary, that she may participate in the words 
of consolation that fell from the Master’s lips. 


THE RESURRECTION SCENE. 

“Lo! Jesus’ power the sleep of death hath broken, 

And wiped the tear from sorrow’s drooping eye! 

Look up, ye mourners, hear what He hath spoken — 

‘He that believes on me shall never die.’” 

Let us go with the Master and these sorrowing sisters 
to the grave of Lazarus. We have sympathized with 
them in their sorrow, we will also share in their joys. 
“Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them 
that weep,” is the admonition of the inspired Apostle. 

When Jesus saw Mary at his feet in tears, and the Jews 
that came with her weeping, he was deeply moved. 


272 


BETHANY; OR 


Although conscious of a power mightier than death, and 
knowing how soon that shadow of death would be turned 
into the morning; yet, as he stood there, and the awful 
disasters of sin flashed before his omniscient eye, and he 
beheld the bereavement and agony of the mourners, he 
groaned in spirit and was troubled. And as he goes with 
those stricken hearts to the sepulchre, conscious of his 
triumph over the grave, he is touched to tears, and we see 
the tenderness of his humanity, and the majesty of the 
Godhead, blended in that scene, “ Jesus wept.” How has 
the heart of the world lingered over this shortest sentence 
of the Bible ! How has it stood pictured to the heart a 
thing of beauty and of majesty, and a joy forever. The 
son of God in tears ! Thanks be to God for that attitude 
of the Savior, and for his tears ! “ For those tears of the 
divine man are links binding us immediately to the throne 
of God, and the rainbow which is around it.” Those 
tears, it has been beautifully said, are like stars which 
sparkle for the comfort of our sorrowing humanity ; once 
beheld, they may be said to be always on the firmament, 
but are never seen without reminding us of the grave over 
which they rose. 

He had just proclaimed himself to the bereaved friends 
at Bethany, as “the resurrection and the life;” and now 
he will actualize the declaration with a voice that shall 
startle the dead, and rob the grave of victory. In silent 
majesty the son of God steps to the mouth of the sepul¬ 
chre, and says, “Take away the stone.” An awful 


TIIE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


273 


suspense pervades that. sorrowful group, as He lifts his 
tearful eyes to heaven in the prayer, “ Father, I thank 
thee, that thou hast heard me.” 


“He ceased,— 

And for a minute’s space there was a hush, 

As if th’ angelic watchers of the world 
Had stay’d the pulses of all breathing things, 

To listen to that prayer.” 

As the deep and tremulous tones of that prayer still 
thrilled through the listening group, and the sisters, in 
breathless suspense, are trembling with alternate doubt 
and expectancy, the omnific, life-giving word is spoken — 
“ Lazarus, come forth.” 

“Come forth,” he cries, “ thou dead!” 

0 God ! what means that strange and sudden sound 
That murmurs from the tomb, that ghastly head 
With funeral fillets bound! 

It is a living form l — 

The loved, the lost, the won — 

Won from the grave, corruption, and the worm. 

And is not this the Son 

Of God ? they whispered, while the sisters poured 
Their gratitude in tears; for they had known the Lord.” 

It seemed to them, just roused from their delirium of 
sorrow, like some strange dark dream of the night when 
one waketh. And yet it is no dream—no wild phantom ; 
what they see is no illusion of the fancy, no sweet hope 
merely—it is a blessed reality—it is their brother returned 
from the land of darkness and mystery— 


274 


BETHANY; OR 


“ And Mary with her dark veil thrown aside, 

Ran to him swiftly, and cried, Lazarus! 

My brother Lazarus ! and tore away 

The napkin she had bound about his head— 

And touch’d the warm lips with her fearful hand, 

And on his neck fell weeping.” 

Oh! with what feelings of adoring gratitude, did Lazarus 
and his sisters kneel together in their evening worship! 
Never before had they gathered around their altar of 
prayer with such ecstacy of joy, such intense family 
feeling, such unutterable gratitude to Him, who had 
turned the shadow of death into the morning, and given 
them, the “ oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of 
praise for the spirit of heaviness.” We now take our 
leave of this home-scene; and after this chastening of the 
Lord, it will live in our memory more than ever, as the 
united, happy, sanctified, beautiful Home of Bethany . 

We have been communing with affliction in the family, 
and we have heard the voice of joy from the chambers of 
mourning and death. May we realize, that “ It is better 
to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house 
of feasting; for that is the end of all men; and the 
living will lay it to heart.” Let us improve the lessons of 
this visitation in thought, to the home of sickness and 
death. 

1. Let us not expect that our homes can be exempted 
from this common affliction of our humanity. Sooner or 
later, sickness and sorrow will invade our households, and 
our happy homes will be overcast with the shadows of 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 275 

death. And there is much in what we have seen of the 
Lord’s dealings with the afflicted family of Bethany, 
which, if remembered, will serve to comfort our hearts, and 
give us peace and resignation, when the days of darkness 
come. 

To the Christian family, sickness will come as it came to 
Bethany, on a mission of mercy. And, however painful in 
the endurance, it will be sanctified not only to the member 
afflicted, but to the entire household. So that we may 
welcome to our families, not only the angel of gladness, 
but the angel of affliction, for they are alike God’s 
messengers of goodness. 

“ Evil and good before him stand, 

Their mission to perform.” 

How comforting when a member of the family is sick, 
to make our appeal for the loved one to the great physi¬ 
cian, who is our friend and Savior! and like these 
sisters, who watched beside their languishing brother, 
send up our message to Jesus upon the throne, saying, 
“Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick.” 

And we may do this, conscious that he is as accessible 
to the voice of prayer now, as when he walked the land 
of Palestine; and that he is as near to the believing 
% heart engaged in prayer, as he was to Mary in Bethany; 
conscious that he is the same in the tenderness of his 
sympathy as when he wept with those sorrowing sisters, 
and as mighty to save as when his voice rang through the 


276 


BETHANY; OR, 


chambers of death, and recalled Lazarus from the 
slumbers of the grave. Oh ! what a burden is lifted from 
the anxious heart watching beside some loved one in sick¬ 
ness, to know that we can tell the Savior, and feel that 
he is near and can help us. Parent, is jour child sick; 
sister, is jour brother sick; go to Jesus. Do all jou can 
for the afflicted one, use everj human expedient for their 
restoration, but neglect not Him who is the author of life, 
and in whose hand is the breath of everj living thing. 
“ Is anj afflicted, let him praj.” Is there some mother 
whose babe is fading in sickness ? Is there some sister 
watching beside a brother in the agonies of death ? praj,— 
“ Blessed Savior, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me.” Let not this beautiful blossom of mj affections, let 
not this loved one of our household, waste awaj and die ! 
You maj utter such a prajer ; jet, leaving the issue whollj 
in his hands, add with Christian resignation, “ Oh! mj 
Father, if this cup maj not pass awaj except I drink it, 
thj will be done.” 

And, submissive to the divine will, committing the sick 
one thus in faith to the Lord of life, jou can confidentlj 
leave the issues with God. If no answer come jou will 
receive at heart this response, given to the sisters. “ This 
sickness is for the glorj of God.” And that conviction 
entertained will relieve the anxious suspense, and enable 
the soul to believe that the sickness, whether for life or 
death, shall be for the divine glorj. This answer of 
Christ to the message of the sisters gives a new and 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 277 

sacred aspect to sickness. If personally afflicted we can 
console ourselves with the reflection, that though we cannot 
do much for the Savior’s honor, we can hear in meekness 
and Christian patience our allotted sufferings, and thus 
glorify God. Lazarus lived in comparative obscurity; he 
is laid upon a bed of sickness, and it is there he may sub¬ 
serve the glory of God, as really as if engaged in the 
more public and active scenes of the ministry. And 
thus, we, though not called to achieve heroic deeds in the 
eyes of the world, may, by meek Christian patience in the 
chamber of sickness, honor Christ. Or, if called to watch 
beside some one who is lingering on the couch of pain, we 
may, in kindly ministrations to the sick, honor Christ. 
The devotion of a sister . or child, ministering for months 
beside an afflicted brother, or comforting through years 
the bed-ridden winter of a parent’s age, may contain a 
holier martyrdom than any which the church has 
canonized. 

There is, therefore, a present blessing in sickness to the 
Christian family. It is a blessing to the members afflicted. 
Perhaps he needed that prostration to deepen the sense 
of dependence upon God; perhaps it was needed to 
isolate him from the distractions of care and business, 
and leave him alone for thought, meditation, and prayer. 
Whatever may be the particular need, the sickness, if it 
is borne in meekness and prayer, will be productive of 
spiritual improvement. There are lessons of patience and 
submission to be learned there — a mellowing of the spirit 
24 


278 


BETHANY; OR, 


in the cloudy autumn of weakness and debility. Just as 
of old the sick and blind were brought to Christ by afflic¬ 
tion, so, many now are led through physical suffering to 
seek the salvation of their souls. Many can look back to 
scenes of trial and sickness, with gratitude to God. 

“Blest trials those that cleanse from sin, 

And make the soul all pure within, 

Wean the fond mind from earthly toys, 

To seek and taste celestial joys.” 

And, so, the other members of the family are indirectly 
blessed by the afflicted one. We know how a sick member 
of the household develops and exercises the sympathies 
and gentle ministrations of the other members. How it 
calls forth affection; how the heart will put forth a 
strength and richness of blessing never known before. 
Says one — “A crippled and suffering child seems the 
heaviest of domestic afflictions. Yet, once confided to 
our care, what an object of tender interest it becomes! 
What pure and gentle affections hover over it! What a 
web of soft and fostering duty is woven round it! It 
gives new value and beauty to life! We would keep it 
with us forever!” 

Yes, the individual Christian, and the Christian family 
can unitedly say — “It is good for us that we have been 
afflicted. ,, 

But the sickness and anxious watchings were the sad 
precursors of Death in the family of Bethany. And so, 
sooner or later, will that awful silence and overshadowing 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 279 

cloud come to your home! Death, stern, cold, inexorable, 
the “ dread teacher,” that tells man of this life’s frailty 
and of a judgment to come, will come into your family. 
Sad, unutterably sad, is death, in a home without Christ 
and without hope. 

But if it be a religious home, like that of Bethany, 
blessed with the friendship of Jesus, then the overshadow¬ 
ing cloud will be radiant with the bow, that 

“ Spans the earth, and forms a pathway to the skies.” 

I have been in the Christian family when death came, not 
as the King of Terrors, but as the Prince of Peace. And 
as I saw the head meekly bowed to the visitation, or the 
eye raised in calm, bright hope to heaven, and I said 
with the silent sympathy and resigned acquiescence of 
the weeping household, “The work is done, the victory 
is gained; thanks be to God, who giveth that'victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I have seen an infant 
form, sweetly reposing on its last couch,— 

“But there beam'd a smile 
So fix'd, so holy, from that cherub brow, 

Death gazed, and left it there. He dared not steal 
The signet-ring of Heaven.” 

And as we repeated the words of the Saviour, “ Suffer 
the little children to come to me, and forbid them not, for 
of such is the kingdom of heaven,” the weeping parents 
responded in tones tremulous with emotion, but full of 


280 


BETHANY; OR, 


Christian resignation, “ The Lord gave and the Lord hath 
taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” 

Thus, not only sickness, but death, in the Christian 
family, is for the glory of God. How often does the last 
lingering sickness develop and beautify the Christian 
graces of the loved one, and canonize them for perpetual 
remembrance and admiration ! How often does that touch¬ 
ing decay of the body seem to be but the investing of the 
soul with immortal life and beauty ! That pale cheek, that 
sweet composure of the countenance, that gentleness and 
gratitude to the ministering friends, that almost spiritual 
beaming of the eye; “and then, at length, when conceal¬ 
ment is no longer possible, that last firm, triumphant, con¬ 
soling discourse, and that last look of all mortal tender¬ 
ness and immortal trust; what hallowed memories are 
these to soothe, to win us to goodness, to enrapture sur¬ 
viving love !■” Such a death in the family leaves a parting 
benediction upon the Christian household. 

“ Dust to its narrow house beneath! 

Soul to its place on high ! 

They that have seen thy look in death, 

No more may fear to die!” 

God grant us homes where Christ will love to linger, 
because welcomed by loving hearts. We know that 
afflictions must come even to such families. “ Marys and 
Marthas must w T eep the world over; the sorrows of 
Bethany be revived in the homes of distant centuries and 


THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY. 


281 


undiscovered countries, till the lengthening sisterhood of 
suffering clasp hands around the globe.” Yes ! afflictions 
will come, and Death, the spoiler, desolate our beautiful 
homes; but He who wept with the sisters of Bethany, and 
poured the resurrection light on that weeping household, 
is our friend and Savior, and will be with us in our be¬ 
reavements, with grace, and words of unspeakable consola¬ 
tion. And when our loved ones die, we know that our 
Redeemer liveth, and that whosoever liveth and believeth 
in Him shall never die ! 

And that scene at the grave of Lazarus, the brother 
called up from the sleep of death and clasped by the en¬ 
raptured sisters, is a prefiguration of every Christian 
household on the morn of the resurrection. If we can 
say of our families, as John Eliot said of his, “ We are all 
in Christ or with Christthen that touching resurrection 
scene at Bethany is an emblem of our family circle, on 
the resurrection morn—the joyous, triumphant, reunion 
of the loved— 

. . . “No wanderer lost 
The family in heaven 


24* 


CjjapUr lixtlr. 

EMMAUS; OR, THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 

“ Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far 
spent.” 

“And while the shadows round his path descend, 

And down the vale of age his footsteps tend, 

Peace o’er his bosom sheds his soft control, 

And throngs of gentlest memories charm the soul; 

Then, weaned from earth, he turns his steadfast eye 
Beyond the grave, whose verge he falters nigh, 

Surveys the brightening regions of the blest, 

And like a wearied pilgrim, sinks to rest.” 

Late in the afternoon of the first Christian Sabbath, 
two of the disciples were on their way from Jerusalem to 
Emmaus. Around their mountain path is early spring 
with its beauty and song; hut these lonely travellers are 
so absorbed in their own thoughts, that their hearts feel 
no sympathy with rejoicing nature. They walk on and 
are sad; for their fondest hopes and dreams of life have 
been buried in the grave with Jesus. As they went on 
their way, talking of the thing which had happened, 
sorrowful and dejected, Jesus himself drew near and went 
with them. They knew not the Lord, and yet there was 
a strange fascination about the spirit and speech of this 
stranger that made their hearts burn within them, as he 
talked to them by the way. If he were not their Lord, 

( 282 ) 


EMMAUS; OR, THE HOME OP OLD AGE. 283 

lie was at least so like him, that in looking at him they 
seemed to behold the twilight dawn of their risen Lord. 

His conversation, in its effects on them, resembled the 
rosy glimmer that gilds the morning sky, which, though 
not the sun himself, is the mild herald of the day. As 
they communed by the way, hope dawned on the darkness 
of despair. The breathings of divine promises, from the 
lips of this mysterious stranger, had calmed their troubled 
thoughts and diffused a heavenly peace through their 
desponding hearts. As they draw nigh unto the village, 
the disciples urge the stranger to turn aside with them to 
their humble home. They press their appeal by the late¬ 
ness of the hour, for the shadows of coming night were 
falling round their path. “Abide with us; for it is 
towards evening and the day is far spent.” The stranger 
turned aside to tarry for the night, and in his, “ Peace be 
with you,” revealed himself the Savior whom they loved. 

There is much in that afternoon walk and evening scene 
at Emmaus, which we may profitably apply to Christian 
experience. It is true, Jesus cannot enter personally our 
homes as our guest, and abide there in actual, visible 
presence. But the spirit of Jesus, his truth and love, 
may enter our hearts, and thus abide with us in the peace, 
spiritual communion, and immortal hopes of our house¬ 
holds. And how beautiful, when the day is far spent in 
the serene and holy twilight, to join those disciples in 
spirit, and ask the Savior to abide with us in our homes. 


284 


EMMATJS; OR, 


This prayer for the Savior’s presence, may be expressed 
at the time of natural evening. 

I. 

EVENING. 

“Morn is the time to act, noon to endure; 

But, Oh! if thou wouldst keep thy spirit pure, 

Turn from the beaten path, by worldlings trod, 

Go forth at eventide, in heart to walk with God.” 

How appropriate this prayer of the two disciples at the 
close of every natural day! When the din of business, 
and the fever of excitement subside with the twilight of 
evening, and we are gathered in our quiet homes, how 
natural to turn our thoughts to Jesus, with the prayer, 
“Abide with us !” For who can speak to us then as He, 
of our past and fleeting hours ? Who, as He, can soothe 
our cares and calm our troubled spirits, touch our hearts 
with penitence for the past, or inspire us with hope for the 
future ? How in such hours of the closing day have we 
felt and sung with the devout poet — 

“I love to steal awhile away 
From ev’ry cumb’ring care, 

And spend the hours of setting day, 

In humble, grateful prayer.” 

There is something in the natural evening that is in 
beautiful harmony with the presence of Christ; something 
which prompts the prayer, “ abide with us.” 


THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 285 

Peace comes with evening . It is a gentle and a sooth¬ 
ing season. But the peace of Christ abiding with us will 
make it yet more peaceful; because it is the answer of the 
internal to the external; the quietness of the soul re¬ 
sponding to the serene twilight, rendering it more pro¬ 
found and grateful. And in this secret silence of the 
mind, the hushed quietude of our spiritual nature, the 
soul is brought into communion with the unseen and 
eternal. 

“ The calm retreat, the silent shade, 

With prayer and praise agree/' 

The soft broad shadows come with evening. They close 
round us as if they would envelop and shade the fretted 
and fevered spirit, before giving it time for restoration. 
But how much safer and more quiet is the spirit, if, by the 
presence of Jesus, it claims a higher protection, and takes 
refuge under the shadow of the Almighty. Then the 
shadows of night seem like a curtain from the hand of 
God, 

“ To shade the couch where his children repose." 

Sleep comes with evening. When in that still and 
shadowy season we gather for the evening prayer, when 
we are pitching the tent of another day’s journey, and 
would lift up our souls to Him, who looks upon us, and 
whose purity is above us like that pure heaven, we may 
say to Jesus, “Abide with us, for the day is far spent.” 
Abide with us, that we may feel that our sins are for- 


286 


EMMAUS; OR, 


gotten; abide with us, as we lie down to gentle sleep, that 
it may be pleasant and refreshing to us, “that pure 
thoughts may keep the portals of our dreams, and God’s 
blessing hold watch over us!” Sweetly will sleep fall 
upon our eyelids, if we have been holding communion 
with Jesus; and, as if we heard from him the words of 
kind permission, “ Sleep on now, and take your rest,” we 
can commend ourselves in confidence to the Watchman of 
Israel, and lie down to rest, 

“As in the embraces of our God, 

Or on our Savior's breast.” 


II. 

THE EVENING OF LIFE. 

Without old age, 

“ Life's busy day would want its tranquil even, 

And earth would lose her stepping-stone to Heaven.” 

Human life is called a day. It has its morning, noon, 
and evening. 

Old age is the evening of Life. And shall not the old 
disciple earnestly desire the Savior to abide with him? 
Has he been with us through the day ? Did our hearts 
seek him early, even in the morning; or if we wandered, 
did we hear his voice and return ? Oh ! if he has walked 
with us through life’s day, how shall we urge him to be 


THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 287 

more and more near to us, as the darkness falls faster 
around us. If we have had sweet communion with Christ 
in our past life, we surely cannot dispense with his pre¬ 
sence when the night is coming on. “Abide with us, for 
it is toward evening.” This is peculiarly a prayer for old 
age. Already the long shadows fall before its tottering 
feet. The pulses of desire beat more feebly; the joys of 
earth are fading; many relationships of life are broken; 
friends are dropping away; the eyes are growing dim; 
and the feeble limbs falter among unbroken shadows. 
Oh ! then will the aged believer utter the prayer of these 
disciples: “Abide with me, 0 Christ, for it is toward 
evening, and the day is far spent.” 

“Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide, 

The darkness thickens; Lord! with me abide, 

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 

Friend of the helpless, oh! abide with me!” 

Happy is the evening of life that is brightened and 
cheered by the presence of Jesus ! Happy were the two 
disciples on the day of the resurrection, when, in their 
walk to Emmaus, they invited their mysterious companion 
home, and found their risen Lord revealed to them in the 
guest of their humble meal! Blessed was the conversa¬ 
tion, and sweet the communion in the home at Emmaus, 
with Jesus as thgir evening guest! Calm and cheerful will 
be the home of old age, with the Savior’s presence and 
benediction. Happy those who, in their early years, 


288 


EMM A US; OR, 


sought his friendship, and, through life’s weary day, 
walked with the companionship of the Son of God, and 
who can invite him to abide with them as the night comes 
on, not as a stranger, but as a familiar friend! 

Sad indeed is old age without such companionship; 
without the presence of Him sent by the Father to keep 
us ever in his love. Desolate is the home of the worldling 
as the light of life is fading, and the world is becoming to 
him “a banquet hall deserted,” with vacant seats, expiring 
lamps, smouldering ashes, and empty cups for cheer. 
How cheerless and desolate is the home of age without the 
consolation and hopes of religion ! The cherished objects 
of life have departed. The past is full of painful recol¬ 
lections, the present full of disquietude and remorse, and 
the future all dark and dreary ! Age without faith, is a 
wreck upon the shore of life, a ruin upon the beetling 
cliffs of time, tottering to its fall, and about to he en- 
gulphed and lost forever! Oh! to end life thus, losing 
its home on earth, but finding none with God. This is 
desolation, indeed, in which the twilight of evening 
deepens into a starless night; in which the lamps of life 
go out, and the soul is left to wail in the outer darkness 
forever! 

But Christian old age has the abiding presence of 
Christ, and is cheerful and happy. True cheerfulness 
springs from the love of God in the soul* and the Savior, 
who most manifests that love, is the most cheering of all 
companions for the evening of life. We need his genial 


THE HOME OF OLD ’AGE. 


289 


spirit always, alike to give ns patience in trial, and true 
joy in our blessings for all our years. But when it is 
towards evening, and the great night is at hand, then, es- 
specially, do we need Christian cheerfulness to give us 
patience under the change. “ See God as Christ reveals 
him in the earlier seasons of life, and we shall not fail to 
see him during its closing years. He whom we sought as 
Guide, will stay with us as Comforter, and his glory will 
shine out at sunset, even more blessedly than at noon¬ 
day.” 

Blessed is such an evening of life ! With Christ, years 
bring a brighter charm than they can take away. 
It is true, the physical infirmities of age often obstruct 
the manifestation of the mind’s activity, and the soul 
needs a new form to correspond with its growing life; it 
seems too bright to linger in the enfeebled body, whose 
ear is dull, and whose eye is dim, whose pulse beats too 
slowly to keep pace w T ith the inner life; for whilst the out¬ 
ward man is enfeebled by age, the inward man is often 
renewed with growing strength and capacities with revolving 
years. There is no age to the mind. Hoes thought grow 
old as it wins new majesty at every stage of its progress, 
and presses on to new realms of light ? Hoes love grow 
old as it gains new strength, and rises to its highest 
beauty in the last earthly moments — the last spiritual 
victory ? Hoes devotion grow old as it presses nearer to 
the throne of God ? There is no old age to the Christian. 
He is strong in faith, and in the graces which come to him 
25 


290 


EMMA US; OR, 


through faith. He can say, with the Apostle, “ though 
our outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day 
by day.” 

“ Joy and crown of a true life—new childhood—second 
morning of our being, so exemplified in the experience of 
the ripest men! A return to youth, not merely by the 
strange renewal of young remembrances, but a regene¬ 
rating of the affections, a renewal of that spontaneous 
trusting reason so beautiful in childhood ? Blessed old 
age, so entering the kingdom of heaven like a little child, 
and winning youth and childhood to itself by its holy 
wisdom and loving counsel! Nearer God than ever, it 
partakes more largely of His grace, and all past expe¬ 
rience and labor, all thoughts, affections, purposes, seem 
but to have been shaping the mind and heart into a vessel 
for holding the precious effluence from above. The dis¬ 
puting reason, the impulsive feelings, the daring will, all 
seem to kneel down then in faith before the mercy-seat, 
and be ennobled by the service and exalted by the obe¬ 
dience. Imagination itself, before so wayward and some¬ 
times rebellious, becomes the servant of faith, and, true to 
the Infinite Creator, joins him in creating the new heavens 
and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The 
noblest genius ever seen on earth joins with the simplest 
piety in the invitation to God’s Beloved — “ Abide with 
us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” 
The thinner the veil of this earthly tabernacle, the more 


THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 


291 


need of the light that can show the Divine glory and the 
eternal world through its perishable material.”* 

Happy is the evening of a life spent in the service of 
Jesus! The past is full of silent blessing and thrilling 
memories—the present, full of peace and hope—the 
future full of light and glory. To such an one the 
evening of life is the <£ dawn of bliss,” the youth of his 
immortality. Life’s labors done, light from heaven falls 
on his path, and the good angel pointing upward, says, 

“Thither, thither, shalt thou go, 

Immortal light, and life forever more.” 

And how often is the kindness of the Lord to the aged 
Christian, specially manifested in his gentle dismissal !•■ 
The day of life spent in piety and love, comes in hope to 
an evening calm and lovely; and though the sun declines, 
the shadows that he leaves behind are only to curtain the 
spirit into rest. How beautifully and touchingly has this 
parting with life in old age been sung by an English 
poet :f— 

“Life! we've been long together, 

Through pleasant and through cloudy weather. 

'Tis hard to part when friends are dear, 

Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear; 

Then steal away, give little warning, 

Choose thine own time; 

Say not good night, but in some happier clime, 

Bid me good morning.” 

Let me say to the younger members of the household, 
deal gently and reverently with your elders. Be kind 

* Osgood. f Mrs. Barbauld. 


292 


EMMAUS; OR, 


and courteous to the old. They need your sympathy. 
Through this bright world they move mistily and wearily. 
It is with them the day, “ when the keepers of the house 
shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves; 
and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and 
the doors shall be shut in the streets, and he shall rise up 
at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music 

shall be brought low.and the grasshopper shall 

be a burden, and desire shall fail.” At such a time of 
dimness and feebleness, give them your gentlest words, 
and readiest sympathy; “ftr youth is never so beautiful, 
as when it acts as a guardian angel or a ministering spirit 
to old age.” 

And how touching, in view of such a coming time, is 
the exhortation of Scripture — “ Remember now thy 
Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days 
come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, 
I have no pleasure in them.” Do not squander the 
precious season of youth, in vanity and forgetfulness of 
God, lest you should come to a dreary, joyless, hopeless 
old age. Seek the Savior in the morning, and walk with 
him in your day of strength, and he will bless you with 
his brighter presence when the evening comes. 

But you may never see the evening of old age. The 
shadows often fall from the mountain before we look for 
them. The night of death often comes down suddenly, 
and unushered by the gradual evening. Who knoweth 
but that it is toward evening now, though not a shadow dim 



THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 


293 


the air ? Who knoweth but that the day is far spent with 
us, though not many of its golden sands may have fallen ? 
The evening of death , often overshadows life’s very noon¬ 
tide. How should the young engage the Savior to abide 
with them, even in the morning and at noon. When you 
know that death may be near at any moment, how can 
you enjoy peace and safety without the abiding presence 
of Jesus? Hot knowing when the shadows of evening 
may fall, your prayer should be, Abide with me always! 

“Abide with me from morn till eve, 

For without thee, I cannot live.” 

And happy, if whilst walking with Jesus in the morning 
of life, the night of death should come! As the shadows 
begin to fall, you can say to the Savior by your side, 
Abide with me, oh, Christ! for it is toward evening. 

“Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes, 

Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; 
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee, 

In life, in death, 0 Lord, abide with me!” 

Let me commend my aged friends to the sympathy of 
the Savior. Your heart breathes that touching prayer of 
the Psalmist—“0 God, thou hast taught me from my 
youth; and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. 
How also when I am old and grey-headed, 0 God, forsake 
me not.” He will never leave you nor forsake you. The 
Savior who has walked with you, through the day, will 
not leave you as your eyes are growing dim, and your feet 
begin to halt among unbroken shadows. Ho—He will be 
25 * * 


294 


EMMAUS; OR, 


nearer to you than ever, for He knows your frame, and is 
touched with a feeling of your infirmities. Only say to 
him, with intense* faith and feeling, Abide with me, 0 
Jesus, for it is toward evening! And he will make his 
grace to abound in you. “ What are you doing ?” said a 
minister, as he one day visited a feeble old man who dwelt 
in a windy hovel. “What are you doing?” as he saw 
him sitting beneath the dripping rafters in his smoky 
chamber, with his Bible upon his knee. “ Oh, sir ! I am 
sitting under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit 
is sweet to my taste !” 

Thus may you abide with Jesus, and raise gently, joy¬ 
fully, humbly, the Christian’s vesper hymn, responsive to 
the matin song; and as the daylight dies, welcome anew 
the bringer of light uncreated and immortal. Say, Abide 
we me, 0 Jesus, for it is evening! 

“In age and feebleness extreme, 

Who shall a helpless worm redeem? 

Jesus my only hope thou art, 

Strength of my failing flesh and heart; 

* 0, could I catch a smile from Thee, 

And drop into Eternity l” 


THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 295 


THE HEAVENLY HOME. 

“In my Father’s house are many mansions.” — Jesus. 

“ Home celestial! Home eternal! 

Home uprear’d by power Supernal! 

Home, no change or loss that fearest, 

From afar my soul thou cheerest; 
****** 

Grant me, Savior, with thy Blessed, 

Of thy Rest to be possessed, 

And amid the joys it bringeth, 

Sing the song that none else singeth.” 

IIlLDEBERT, A. D. 1133. 

The Savior revealed the eternal world as the soul’s true 
home. Lovely as is the Christian family on earth, it is 
only prefatory to the more genial and ecstatic communion 
of the family in heaven. Sweet and satisfying, beyond 
all else on earth, are the joys of a Christian home. 

“ The fellowship of kindred minds, 

Is like to that above.” 

But how frail the tie that “ makes the members one !” 
How few earthly homes without the sad memorial of some 
one that is gone! How soon the sweet bonds and kindred 
fellowship of the household will be broken! Soon must 
we leave these pleasant homes of earth! 


“And by the hearth we now sit round, 
Some other circle will be found.” 


296 EMMAUS; OR, THE HOME OF OLD AGE. 

But the words of Jesus bear our thoughts upward to 
the “many mansions.” “Father, I will, that they also 
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that 
they may behold my glory.” For many from our house¬ 
holds has this prayer been fulfilled; and for those who yet 
remain, it inspires the precious hope of the reunion of the 
whole Christian family in Heaven. Here Christ abides 
with us; there we shall be with him, that we may behold 
his glory. With Christ in our Father s House ! Eternal 
home of the Christian Family! 

“ Oh! the delights, the heav'nly joys, 

The glories of the place, 

When Jesus sheds the brightest beams, 

Of his o'erflowing grace !" 

Oh! my Christian friends, let us earnestly and prayer¬ 
fully strive to make our homes on earth Christian in form 
and spirit. Let us set our houses in the spiritual order of 
faith, and prayer, and love; then shall no loved one be 
missed from the heavenly Home; then, absent from the 
body, we shall be present with the Father, and with his 
son, Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and 
earth is named. 

“ 0 Lord, that wisdom may we know, 

Which yields a life of peace below; 

So, in the world to follow this, 

May each repeat, in words of bliss, 

We're all — all here!" 


THE END. 


XiuiisAtt k 33lalviaiutr, ^{jtlaMpjiia, 

HAVE RECENTLY PUBLISHED 

THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 

BY 

REV. THEOPHILUS STORK, D.D. 


“ Of such is the kingdom of heaven.”—J esus. 

“ How oft, heart-sick and sore, 

I’ve wished I were, once more, 

A little child.”—M rs. Southey. 


CONTENTS, 


INTRODUCTION.—THE WONDERS OP 
BETHLEHEM. 

The “Holy Child Jesus.” The Child¬ 
hood and Youth of Christ. The De¬ 
vout Simeon, with the Infant Saviour 
in his arms. Jesus among the Doc¬ 
tors in the Temple. The sympathy 
of Christ with little children. The 
beauty of childhood. Poetical quo¬ 
tations from Wordsworth. 

LITTLE CHILDREN BROUGHT TO THE 
SAVIOUR. 

Explanation of the scene in Mark x. 
13, 14. The Disciples’ conduct. 
The probable reasons of their inter¬ 
ference. The Saviour’s displeasure 
at their conduct. His affectionate 
welcome to children. How parents 
now may prevent children from 
going to Christ. An earnest dis¬ 
suasive from such deportment. The 
importance of example. The influ¬ 
ence of the home-spirit. The posi¬ 
tive duty of bringing our children 
to the Saviour. 

THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

Explanation of the temple-scene, Matt, 
xxi. 15, 16. The hosanna of the 
children. The displeasure of the 
priests and scribes. The Saviour’s 
vindication of the children Ps. 
viii. 2, explained. The importance 
•f early impressions. Reformation. 


National education. Sunday schools. 
Facts, showing that children trained 
in religion will become the cham¬ 
pions of truth and virtue. Beautiful 
visions of the future. 

TIMOTHY. 

His early religious education. The 
influence of maternal piety. Eunice 
an example for the imitation of mo¬ 
thers. The “ child father of the 
man.” Instruction and piety com¬ 
bined. Encouragement to pioul 
mothers. 

THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 

Explanation of the scene. Seeming 
incongruity. Vindication of Divine 
Providence, in the massacre of the 
infants. Infant martyrs. The scene, 
suggestive of the following topics: 

1. The death of little children. Sources 
of consolation. Providence. Infant 
salvation. 

2. Mission of children. The advent 
of a little child in the family. The 
child at home. The sick and dyiug 
child. The memory. 

3. Children in heaven. Beautiful as¬ 
pect of the heavenly home. 

4. Recognition. Difficulties of tti 
doctrine. Scriptural aspect of the 
subject. David. Recognition of ths 
loved and lost in heaven. 

Conclusion. 


One neat 12nc.o. Volume, Cloth, gilt. Pi^oe, 75 cents. 





LINDSAY 8b BLAKISTON’S PUBLICATIONS, 


.Uni. Mr. Barliaugij’0 poplar Morb. 

LIITDSAY & BLAKISTOIT, PHILADELPHIA, 

Publish the following Series of Books, which have received the approbation of ah 

Religious Denominations: 


HEAVEN, 

JR, AN EARNEST AND SCRIPTURAL INQUIRY INTO THE ABODE OF THE SAINTED DEAD, 
BY THE BEY. II. HARBAUGII. 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH, LANCASTER, PA. 

In One Volume, 12mo. Price 75 Cents. 

THE HEAVENLY RECOGNITION, 

OR AN EARNEST AND SCRIPTURAL DISCUSSION OF THE QUESTION, 

IBill mt Bttiurr ottr /rpniis in Swain? 

BV REV. II. HARBAUGII. 

In One Volume, 12mo. Price 75 Cents. 

THE HEAVENLY HOME; 

— OR, 

THE EMPLOYMENT AND ENJOYMENTS OF THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN 

BY THE BEV. II. HARBAUGII, 

AUTHOR OF “THE HEAVENLY RECOGNITION OF FRIENDS,” AND “HEAVEN; 

OR, THE SAINTED DEAD.” 

In One Volume, 12mo. Price $1 00. 

HARBAUGH’S FUTURE LIFE, 

CONTAINING 

HEAVEN, OR, THE SAINTED DEAD, 

THE HEAVENLY RECOGNITION, 

THE HEAVENLY HOME. 

A REE VOLUMES, NEATLY BOUND IN CLOTH, WITH GILT BACKS, AND A PORTRAIT 

OF THE AUTHOR. PRICE $2 50. 

Copies of the above Books, handsomely bound for presentation, in cloth, 
ftill gilt. Price of the first and second volumes, $1 25 each; of the third $1 50.. 








LINDSAY 80 BLAKiSTON'S PUBLICATIONS, 




MRS. LEE’S YOUNG PEOPLE’S LIBRARY 

THE AFRICAN CRUSOES; 

Or, the ADVENTURES OF CARLOS AND ANTONIO in the WiMs of Africa. 

With Illustrations. 


THE AUSTRALIAN WANDERERS; 

Or, the ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN SPENCER, HIS HORSE AND DOG, 
In the Bush and Wilds of Australia. With Illustrations. 


ANECDOTES of the HABITS and INSTINCTS of ANIMALS. 

With Illustrations. 


ANECDOTES of the HABITS and INSTINCTS of BIRDS, 
FISHES, and REPTILES. 


With Illustrations. Each volume neatly bound in cloth, gilt backs, and sold 
separately at 75 cents; or neatly put in a box together, price $3 00. 


MARY HOWITT’S BEAUTIFUL JUVENILES. 

ELEGANTLY ILLUSTRATED. 


MIDSUMMER FLOWERS, 

FOR THE YOUNG. By Mary Howitt. With Ten beautiful Illustration*. 
Price, bound in cloth, gilt backs, 75 cents. In full gilt edges, Ac., $1 00. 


THE DIAL OF LOVE, 

A CHRISTMAS BOOK FOR THE YOUNG. By Mar? Howitt. Ten beau¬ 
tiful Illustrations. Price, bound in cloth, gilt backs, 75 cents; in full cloth, 
gilt edges, Ac., $1 00. 


MY NEIGHBOR’S CHILDREN. 

From the German. By Mrs. Sarah A. Myers. In 2 volumes, 16mo. With 
Illustrations. Price $1 25. 


A sprightly and very effective tale. It preaches a kind of domestic gospel which every parent will 
•ee the beauty of, and perhaps feel the force of. Its impression is both decided and good.— 










11 OS AY & BLAKISTON’S PUBLICATIONS. 




AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER, 

fHE GREAT GERMAN REFORMER. With a Sketch of the Reformation in Germany 
Edited, with an Introduction, by the Rev. Theophilus Stork, D.D., late Pastor of SL 
Mark's Luthern Church, Philadelphia. Beautifully Illustrated by sixteen designs, printed 
on fine paper. A handsome octavo volume. 

Pricey in clotb, gilt backsy “ ■ ■ ■ * $1 50 

• full gilty “ ■> “ ■ ” ■ 2 50 

. In embossed leather, marble edges, gilt backs, &c., 2 00 

The wirld owes much to Luther, and the Reformation of which he was the prominent leader, and 
notning, save the pure, simple word of God, will do more towards securing the prevalence and per 
potuating the influence of the principles of religious liberty for which he and the other Reformers 
contended, than the circulation of a book in which the mental processes by which he arrived at kia 
conclusions, are set forth. We can safely recommend this book as one that is worthy of a place in 
tvery dwelling, and we hope its circulation may be as wide as its merits are deserving .—Evangelical 
Magazine. 


TEE LIFE OF PHILIP MELANCHTHON, 

THE FRIEND AND COMPANION OF I/UTIIER, According to his Inner and Outer Life, 
Translated from the German of Charles Frederick Ledderhose, by the Rev. G. F. Krotei, 
Pastor of the Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, Fa. "With a Portrait of Melanchthon. 
In one Volume, 12mo. Price $1 00» 


THE P Alt ABIES OF FRED’X ADOLPHUS KRUMMACHER. 

From the seventh German edition. Elegantly Illustrated by Twenty-six Original Designs, 
beautifully printed on fine paper. A handsome demy octavo volume. 

fllegantly bound in cloth, gilt backs, ■ ■ ■ Price $1 50 

• • .. full gilt sides, backs and edges, 2 50 

.. .. Turkey morocco, antique, ■ 1 00 

The simple and Christian parables of Krummacher, chiefly the productions of his younger years, 
have acquired a wide popularity, and have long afforded a fund on which our periodicals have froelj 
drawn. In their collected form they have passed through various editions in Germany, but we doubt 
whether any of them have been so tasteful and beautiful in all their appliances as the one before u* 
The typography is very chaste, and the illustrations neat and appropriate.— Presbyterian. 


THE CHRISTIAN’S DAILY DELIGHT. 

A SACRED GARLAND, CULLED FROM ENGLISH AND AMERICAN POETS. Beauti¬ 
fully Illustrated by Eight Engravings on Steel. 

In one volume, demy, octavo, clotb, gilt backs, ■ Price $t 50 
• < •• •• • full gilt sides, backs and edges, 2 00 

In this attractive volume we find much to please the eye ; but the most valuable recommendation 
of the work is found ik the lessons of piety, virtue, morality, and mercy, whioh are thrown togetnei 
thw many-coloured garland of poetic flowers .—Episcopal Recorder. 












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